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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. pop — soda
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — to cut
  7. pop — music
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wind — moving air
  11. prune — to trim
  12. rule — a law
  13. cold — an illness
  14. staff — a stick
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. prune — to trim
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. wind — moving air
  19. staff — employees
  20. rule — government
  21. pop — to visit
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. staff — employees

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