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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. cold — not warm
  4. clip — to cut
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. mug — to rob
  7. season — of the year
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. clip — a video
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mug — a cup
  12. wind — moving air
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. wind — moving air
  15. mug — a face
  16. chair — a leader
  17. bass — low music
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. shower — rain
  20. clip — for paper
  21. bass — the fish
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. season — in sport
  24. shower — to wash

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