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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 124 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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. cold — an illness
  4. clip — a video
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. season — of the year
  8. clip — to cut
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. pop — to visit
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. tear — from crying
  14. pop — soda
  15. cold — not warm
  16. foot — a measure
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. clip — for paper
  19. tear — from crying
  20. season — in sport
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wind — moving air
  24. arm — part of the body

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