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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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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: cold · leaves · fall · kid · mine · dip · clip · face

  1. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  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. leaves — lets stay
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. dip — to sink
  5. fall — the season
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. face — part of the head
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. fall — to drop
  13. clip — to cut
  14. kid — child
  15. cold — not warm
  16. face — to confront
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. mine — for digging
  19. face — to point toward
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. kid — to tease
  23. dip — a sauce
  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