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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. rule — government
  3. chair — a leader
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cold — an illness
  8. dip — to sink
  9. rule — a law
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — not warm
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. clip — a video
  16. rock — a stone
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. cue — for pool
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. clip — for paper
  22. cue — a signal
  23. cue — a hint
  24. cell — in biology

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