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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cell — in biology
  3. cold — not warm
  4. clip — for paper
  5. track — a song
  6. rule — government
  7. last — finally
  8. rule — a law
  9. last — final
  10. bear — the animal
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bear — the animal
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. clip — a video
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. track — a path
  21. track — to keep track
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. wax — to grow
  24. last — to go on

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