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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. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — tied together
  2. clip — to cut
  3. band — a music group
  4. cap — a lid
  5. band — a ring
  6. present — a gift
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. clip — for paper
  9. object — an aim
  10. present — there
  11. clip — a video
  12. mine — for digging
  13. cold — an illness
  14. present — the time now
  15. object — to protest
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. bound — certain
  18. cap — of ice
  19. object — a thing
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bound — obliged
  24. cap — a hat

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