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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. clip — to cut
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. cold — an illness
  6. staff — employees
  7. staff — a stick
  8. field — farmland
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. pound — a weight
  13. staff — employees
  14. rule — government
  15. deal — to handle
  16. field — for sport
  17. rule — a law
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. cold — not warm
  21. field — a subject
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — a video
  24. cold — the Cold War

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