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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. staff — employees
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — a line
  6. clip — for paper
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. row — to paddle
  10. cell — a phone
  11. cell — in biology
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. bat — the animal
  14. staff — a stick
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. clip — a video
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. wax — to grow
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. staff — employees
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cold — an illness

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