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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 116 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: clip · cold · stock · wind · rule · staff · spell · cap

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. spell — a short time
  3. staff — a stick
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rule — a law
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cap — a hat
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. staff — employees
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wind — moving air
  12. rule — government
  13. cap — of ice
  14. wind — moving air
  15. stock — goods
  16. spell — letters
  17. cap — a lid
  18. clip — for paper
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. staff — employees
  22. stock — shares
  23. spell — magic
  24. rule — to rule out

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