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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 water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cue — for pool
  4. vault — a safe
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — for digging
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. clip — a video
  10. chip — to eat
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. clip — for paper
  14. march — the month
  15. clip — to cut
  16. date — the fruit
  17. cue — a hint
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. march — the month
  20. march — music
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cue — a signal
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. chip — for betting

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