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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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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 · last · rest · kid · cold · temple · chip · stand

  1. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. stand — to bear
  3. kid — child
  4. rest — a break
  5. clip — for paper
  6. last — to go on
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — not warm
  10. clip — a video
  11. last — final
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. chip — to eat
  15. clip — to cut
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. rest — what's left
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. chip — for betting

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