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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bulb — for light
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. saw — the tool
  7. clip — a video
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. clip — for paper
  10. net — in sport
  11. ground — a position
  12. net — for catching
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. bulb — for light
  15. net — after costs
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. season — in sport
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. season — of the year
  21. ground — crushed
  22. ground — the earth
  23. clip — to cut
  24. saw — the tool

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