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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: clip · pass · bound · track · season · cold · sharp · game

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. sharp — clever
  5. bound — certain
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bound — tied together
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. season — in sport
  11. game — a match
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bound — obliged
  15. cold — not warm
  16. track — a song
  17. track — to keep track
  18. pass — a permit
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. game — wild animals
  22. cold — an illness
  23. season — of the year
  24. track — a path

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