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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. mug — to rob
  3. chest — a box
  4. fall — the season
  5. squash — to crush
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. clip — for paper
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rock — a stone
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. mug — a face
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — to cut
  15. mug — a cup
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. clip — a video
  21. cold — an illness
  22. fall — to drop
  23. chest — of your body
  24. fall — to drop

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