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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. ball — a great time
  3. clip — to cut
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. season — in sport
  6. mate — a partner
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. ball — a dance
  9. cold — an illness
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — to point toward
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. mate — a friend
  14. mate — to breed
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. clip — for paper
  17. rash — a series
  18. face — part of the head
  19. rule — a law
  20. rule — government
  21. season — of the year
  22. rash — hasty
  23. cold — not warm
  24. clip — a video

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