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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. land — to come down
  3. cold — an illness
  4. clip — a video
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. bank — for money
  7. bank — of a river
  8. pit — in a race
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. cold — not warm
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. scale — in music
  13. land — ground
  14. bank — for money
  15. row — to paddle
  16. pit — a hole
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. row — a line
  19. scale — size or range
  20. clip — for paper
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. land — a country
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. clip — to cut

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