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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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. staff — employees
  3. clip — for paper
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. pound — a weight
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. tear — to rip
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. key — the most important part
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. key — in music
  17. staff — a stick
  18. game — a match
  19. cold — an illness
  20. tear — from crying
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — wild animals
  23. staff — employees
  24. key — for a lock

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