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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. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — clothes
  2. suit — to fit
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bore — to drill
  7. track — to keep track
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. shower — rain
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. track — a song
  14. cold — an illness
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. track — a path
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — to wash
  19. suit — in cards
  20. bore — to tire
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pound — a weight

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