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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. ground — crushed
  5. wax — to grow
  6. clip — for paper
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — a video
  9. ground — the earth
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. mate — to breed
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. chip — to eat
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bank — for money
  16. ground — a position
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bank — of a river
  19. bank — for money
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. mate — a friend
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. cold — not warm
  24. chip — for betting

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