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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 116 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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Word bank
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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. spell — a short time
  3. march — the month
  4. spell — magic
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. prune — to trim
  8. ball — a dance
  9. pitch — completely
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. clip — a video
  12. march — music
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. cold — an illness
  15. ball — a great time
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. season — in sport
  18. march — the month
  19. prune — to trim
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. spell — letters
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. season — of the year

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