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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. season — in sport
  4. clip — to cut
  5. present — a gift
  6. cold — an illness
  7. kick — in football
  8. cold — not warm
  9. staff — a stick
  10. season — of the year
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. clip — for paper
  15. pound — a weight
  16. clip — a video
  17. staff — employees
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. present — there
  22. present — the time now
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. pound — for dogs

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