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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 120 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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Word bank
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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 surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. spell — a short time
  6. clip — to cut
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. clip — for paper
  9. spell — magic
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. degree — an amount
  12. spell — letters
  13. degree — from a university
  14. clip — a video
  15. ground — the earth
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. ground — crushed
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cold — an illness
  20. ground — a position
  21. fork — in a road
  22. degree — temperature
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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