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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: pop · kick · rush · row · clip · cold · temple · last

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. last — to go on
  3. cold — not warm
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. kick — in football
  8. clip — a video
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. pop — soda
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. clip — for paper
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. row — a line
  16. cold — an illness
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. pop — music
  19. last — final
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pop — to visit
  22. last — finally
  23. rush — hurry
  24. clip — to cut

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