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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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tear — from crying
  3. file — a line of people
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. fork — in a road
  6. ground — a position
  7. pop — soda
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — not warm
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. file — a tool
  13. file — a document
  14. clip — to cut
  15. jam — a tight spot
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. tear — to rip
  18. tear — from crying
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — for paper
  21. ground — the earth
  22. ground — crushed
  23. pop — to visit
  24. pop — music

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