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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. present — there
  3. cap — a hat
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. clip — for paper
  7. spring — the season
  8. drill — the tool
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. clip — to cut
  11. drill — army training
  12. cap — a lid
  13. present — a gift
  14. cap — of ice
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — a video
  17. net — for catching
  18. present — the time now
  19. spring — of water
  20. drill — a practice
  21. prune — to trim
  22. net — after costs
  23. net — in sport
  24. cold — not warm

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