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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. rock — music
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. pound — a weight
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. bulb — for light
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. cold — an illness
  9. kid — child
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. dip — to sink
  12. fall — to drop
  13. clip — a video
  14. fall — the season
  15. bulb — for light
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. rock — a stone
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. fall — to drop
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. kid — to tease

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