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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: bore · board · cold · pop · wave · clip · tear · pitch

  1. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. bore — to tire
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — a video
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. pop — soda
  12. board — a committee
  13. clip — to cut
  14. board — to get on
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. pop — to visit
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bore — to drill
  21. pop — music
  22. pitch — completely
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wave — of the sea

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