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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. can — to be able to
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. current — of water
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. tear — to rip
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. cold — an illness
  9. can — a tin
  10. current — electric
  11. craft — boats
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — to shout
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cold — not warm
  17. dip — to sink
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. current — happening now
  22. craft — a skill
  23. tear — from crying
  24. can — a tin

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