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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 116 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: clip · club · bat · saw · chip · march · can · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — not warm
  4. clip — for paper
  5. can — a tin
  6. chip — to eat
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. club — for dancing
  9. can — a tin
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. saw — the tool
  12. clip — a video
  13. march — the month
  14. club — for golf
  15. can — to be able to
  16. march — the month
  17. bat — the animal
  18. chip — for betting
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. clip — to cut
  22. saw — the tool
  23. club — a group
  24. march — 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