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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · rule · rock · cold · clip · ruler

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rule — government
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. rule — a law
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rock — a stone
  15. rock — music
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bat — in an idiom

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