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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 116 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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. bat — the animal
  3. cap — of ice
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. land — to come down
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. cap — a lid
  9. clip — a video
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. row — a line
  12. wind — moving air
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. lie — to recline
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wind — moving air
  18. land — ground
  19. cap — a hat
  20. land — a country
  21. clip — to cut
  22. row — to paddle
  23. clip — for paper
  24. lie — an untruth

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