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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. chest — a box
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. prune — to trim
  6. hand — in cards
  7. capital — money
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. dip — to sink
  10. hand — help
  11. pop — to visit
  12. chest — of your body
  13. pop — soda
  14. clip — for paper
  15. chest — of your body
  16. clip — to cut
  17. capital — a city
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. pop — music
  20. clip — a video
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. prune — to trim
  24. cold — not warm

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