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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 120 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. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. suit — clothes
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. last — final
  5. kid — to tease
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kid — child
  8. wake — a trail
  9. net — after costs
  10. clip — to cut
  11. suit — to fit
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. clip — a video
  14. net — for catching
  15. net — in sport
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. last — to go on
  18. suit — in cards
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. last — finally
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wake — before a funeral

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