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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 seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. cap — of ice
  3. suit — to fit
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. suit — in cards
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cap — a lid
  11. bass — low music
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bass — the fish
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. clip — a video
  16. suit — clothes
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cap — a hat
  20. ground — a position
  21. cold — an illness
  22. ground — crushed
  23. rush — hurry
  24. bass — the instrument

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