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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. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. clip — to cut
  3. kid — to tease
  4. season — in sport
  5. clip — a video
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. bass — the fish
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kid — child
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. season — of the year
  14. pound — a weight
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. clip — for paper
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bass — low music
  21. cold — not warm
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. stand — to bear

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