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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. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — decided
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. bear — the animal
  6. clip — for paper
  7. firm — steady
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. cell — in biology
  10. clip — a video
  11. season — in sport
  12. row — a line
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bear — the animal
  19. wind — moving air
  20. season — of the year
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. firm — a company
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wake — a trail

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