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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. cold — an illness
  6. ground — a position
  7. fork — in a road
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. vault — a safe
  10. clip — a video
  11. wax — to grow
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. clip — to cut
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. cold — not warm
  18. ground — the earth
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. ground — crushed
  23. mine — for digging
  24. wax — in the ear

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