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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: hand · rule · clip · roll · cold · calf · dip · ruler

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. clip — a video
  3. dip — to sink
  4. roll — a cake
  5. clip — to cut
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. rule — government
  9. rule — a law
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hand — help
  13. hand — in cards
  14. roll — a list
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. ruler — for measuring

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