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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. tear — to rip
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. clip — a video
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wound — an injury
  9. clip — to cut
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. squash — to crush
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. mine — for digging
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wound — an injury
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. squash — the sport

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