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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. dip — to sink
  3. clip — for paper
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. clip — a video
  7. cold — not warm
  8. game — wild animals
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. fork — in a road
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. game — a match
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. cold — an illness
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. clip — to cut
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. kick — in football

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