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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. toast — bread
  3. saw — the tool
  4. clip — for paper
  5. cold — an illness
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. clip — to cut
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. stand — to bear
  14. saw — the tool
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. clip — a video
  19. cold — not warm
  20. date — the fruit
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. date — on the calendar

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