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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. track — a path
  3. cold — an illness
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. bore — to tire
  6. content — happy
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. fall — to drop
  9. bore — to drill
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. clip — to cut
  12. rush — hurry
  13. cold — not warm
  14. kid — child
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. clip — a video
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. track — to keep track
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. kid — to tease
  21. clip — for paper
  22. content — the amount
  23. track — a song
  24. fall — to drop

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