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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 120 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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. track — to keep track
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. bound — certain
  7. clip — for paper
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. cold — an illness
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. track — a song
  15. bound — obliged
  16. bound — tied together
  17. tube — the underground
  18. root — of a plant
  19. track — a path
  20. tube — a container
  21. root — of a word
  22. cold — not warm
  23. deal — to handle
  24. root — the cause

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