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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: present · spell · clip · land · pop · mate · cold · rock

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. mate — a friend
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — a short time
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. mate — a partner
  7. land — a country
  8. cold — an illness
  9. present — a gift
  10. pop — music
  11. land — ground
  12. spell — magic
  13. clip — to cut
  14. present — there
  15. clip — a video
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. pop — to visit
  18. land — to come down
  19. present — the time now
  20. mate — to breed
  21. clip — for paper
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rock — a stone
  24. rock — music

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