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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: saw · clip · cold · club · pit · net · ground · stand

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — for paper
  4. club — for golf
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. ground — a position
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. saw — the tool
  10. ground — the earth
  11. club — a group
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pit — a hole
  16. pit — in a race
  17. stand — to bear
  18. club — for dancing
  19. ground — crushed
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. net — after costs
  22. clip — to cut
  23. net — for catching
  24. net — in sport

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