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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 120 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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mate — a partner
  5. pop — music
  6. mate — to breed
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. cold — not warm
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. pound — a weight
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. clip — a video
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pop — to visit
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pop — soda
  23. mate — a friend
  24. cold — an illness

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