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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 116 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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. cold — an illness
  3. court — of law
  4. cold — not warm
  5. clip — a video
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. cue — a hint
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. face — part of the head
  13. clip — for paper
  14. cue — a signal
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cue — for pool
  17. court — for sport
  18. face — to confront
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. lie — to recline
  22. court — of a king
  23. bat — the animal
  24. face — to point toward

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