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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 124 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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. cold — not warm
  3. craft — a skill
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. rule — a law
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. bound — obliged
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. bound — certain
  10. craft — boats
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bound — tied together
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. clip — for paper
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — a video
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ruler — a monarch
  24. mine — for digging

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