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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. clip — for paper
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cue — for pool
  5. band — a music group
  6. cue — a hint
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a line of people
  9. dip — to sink
  10. ball — a great time
  11. ball — a dance
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. cue — a signal
  14. clip — to cut
  15. can — a tin
  16. can — to be able to
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. clip — a video
  20. can — a tin
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. file — a document
  24. band — a ring

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