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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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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. race — humankind
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — not warm
  5. net — after costs
  6. clip — a video
  7. race — the arms race
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. net — for catching
  10. cold — an illness
  11. ground — a position
  12. fine — all right
  13. spring — the season
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fine — high quality
  16. ground — crushed
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. spring — a coil
  19. race — a contest
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. clip — to cut
  22. spring — of water
  23. net — in sport
  24. ground — the earth

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