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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ground — the earth
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. present — there
  5. chest — a box
  6. squash — the sport
  7. branch — a division
  8. clip — to cut
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. ground — crushed
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chest — of your body
  15. toast — bread
  16. ground — a position
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. present — the time now
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. clip — a video
  21. cold — not warm
  22. squash — to crush
  23. present — a gift
  24. chest — of your body

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