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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mug — to rob
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. tube — a container
  8. pound — a weight
  9. mug — a cup
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pop — to visit
  15. clip — to cut
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. clip — a video
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. mug — a face
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pop — music
  23. pop — soda
  24. tube — the underground

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com