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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. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. When will it ________________ you to start?
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. cold — not warm
  3. kick — in football
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. present — the time now
  6. hand — in cards
  7. suit — in cards
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. present — there
  10. suit — clothes
  11. clip — a video
  12. suit — to fit
  13. present — a gift
  14. hand — help
  15. clip — to cut
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. kick — a thrill

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