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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. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. clip — a video
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. cold — an illness
  6. shower — to wash
  7. cold — not warm
  8. suit — in cards
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. tear — to rip
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. clip — to cut
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. suit — clothes
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. branch — a division
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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