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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. cold — not warm
  5. spell — letters
  6. land — to come down
  7. clip — a video
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. cold — an illness
  11. current — happening now
  12. clip — for paper
  13. land — ground
  14. current — electric
  15. spell — magic
  16. current — of water
  17. clip — to cut
  18. tear — from crying
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — thin
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. spell — a short time
  24. land — a country

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