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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. I'll take my ________________ from you.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cue — for pool
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. field — a subject
  6. roll — a cake
  7. field — farmland
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. last — final
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. cue — a signal
  15. last — finally
  16. last — to go on
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. clip — for paper
  19. cold — an illness
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. field — for sport
  23. roll — a list
  24. cue — a hint

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