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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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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 · leaves · cold · deal · pound · row · content · squash

  1. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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. deal — a big deal
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. clip — a video
  6. content — the amount
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. content — happy
  9. squash — to crush
  10. clip — for paper
  11. squash — the sport
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. pound — a weight
  14. cold — not warm
  15. deal — to handle
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. row — to paddle
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. row — a line
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cold — the Cold War

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