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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. clip — a video
  5. fall — to drop
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. ground — the earth
  8. cold — an illness
  9. swing — to play on
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. ground — crushed
  12. clip — for paper
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. swing — in golf
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bat — the animal
  17. mate — to breed
  18. cold — not warm
  19. fall — to drop
  20. swing — music
  21. ground — a position
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. mate — a partner
  24. mate — a friend

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