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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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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. rock — music
  3. kid — child
  4. tear — from crying
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bound — obliged
  8. shower — to wash
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. rock — a stone
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bound — certain
  13. tear — from crying
  14. cold — an illness
  15. can — a tin
  16. shower — rain
  17. cold — not warm
  18. can — a tin
  19. can — to be able to
  20. kid — to tease
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bound — tied together

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