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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. spell — letters
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. firm — steady
  5. cold — an illness
  6. march — the month
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. mine — for digging
  9. march — music
  10. spell — a short time
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. bore — to tire
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. firm — decided
  15. firm — a company
  16. cold — not warm
  17. clip — for paper
  18. bore — to drill
  19. spell — magic
  20. clip — a video
  21. snap — to click
  22. clip — to cut
  23. march — the month
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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