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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: wave · chair · mouse · fork · clip · rush · ground · cold

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. rush — hurry
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. chair — a leader
  12. clip — to cut
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. clip — for paper
  16. ground — the earth
  17. ground — crushed
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. fork — in a road
  21. ground — a position
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. clip — a video

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