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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pound — a weight
  5. drill — a practice
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. craft — boats
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. tube — the underground
  14. chair — a leader
  15. drill — army training
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. drill — the tool
  18. cold — an illness
  19. tube — a container
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. rush — hurry
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. craft — a skill
  24. clip — a video

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