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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. last — finally
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. last — final
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. race — the arms race
  11. game — wild animals
  12. race — humankind
  13. game — a match
  14. rule — a law
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. prune — to trim
  18. clip — for paper
  19. race — a contest
  20. prune — to trim
  21. clip — a video
  22. rule — government
  23. last — to go on
  24. cold — not warm

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