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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — not warm
  3. scale — size or range
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. ball — a great time
  7. ball — a dance
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. scale — in music
  10. cold — an illness
  11. present — a gift
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. present — the time now
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. clip — a video
  16. present — there
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. season — of the year
  19. clip — to cut
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. kick — in football
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. season — in sport
  24. stand — to bear

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