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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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. mate — a partner
  3. race — humankind
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. clip — for paper
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. mate — to breed
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. mate — a friend
  14. vault — a safe
  15. race — the arms race
  16. clip — to cut
  17. branch — a division
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. race — a contest
  20. mine — for digging
  21. cold — not warm
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. clip — a video

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