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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. clip — for paper
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rash — hasty
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. bear — the animal
  12. bound — obliged
  13. bound — tied together
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bound — certain
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bear — the animal
  18. rash — a series
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bay — a horse colour

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