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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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468
Word bank
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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. present — there
  3. rule — government
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. clip — a video
  8. fork — in a road
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. root — of a plant
  11. root — the cause
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. present — a gift
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. clip — to cut
  17. root — of a word
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. clip — for paper
  24. rule — a law

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