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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. rule — government
  5. cue — a hint
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cue — a signal
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. cold — not warm
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cue — for pool
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. last — to go on
  14. last — final
  15. march — the month
  16. march — the month
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. march — music
  19. clip — a video
  20. kick — in football
  21. last — finally
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. rule — a law

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