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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. last — finally
  3. last — to go on
  4. last — final
  5. can — to be able to
  6. net — in sport
  7. clip — a video
  8. can — a tin
  9. cell — a phone
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. net — for catching
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. net — after costs
  15. cell — in biology
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. wax — to grow
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. can — a tin
  21. clip — for paper
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. cold — an illness
  24. snap — to click

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