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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. pit — in a race
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. spring — the season
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — a video
  10. spring — a coil
  11. branch — a division
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. spring — of water
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. pit — a hole
  20. rule — a law
  21. rule — government
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. date — the fruit

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