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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cue — a signal
  5. game — a match
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cue — a hint
  8. present — a gift
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. clip — to cut
  13. squash — to crush
  14. game — wild animals
  15. clip — for paper
  16. present — there
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. squash — the sport
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. clip — a video
  22. cue — for pool
  23. present — the time now
  24. game — a kind of play

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