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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chip — to eat
  3. chip — for betting
  4. club — a group
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. club — for golf
  8. degree — an amount
  9. club — for dancing
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bear — the animal
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. degree — temperature
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. clip — a video
  16. face — to confront
  17. degree — from a university
  18. cold — an illness
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. face — to point toward
  21. face — part of the head
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bear — the animal

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