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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. object — to protest
  5. can — a tin
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. cold — an illness
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. can — to be able to
  13. fork — in a road
  14. row — a line
  15. can — a tin
  16. season — of the year
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — a video
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rush — hurry
  21. clip — to cut
  22. object — a thing
  23. object — an aim
  24. row — to paddle

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