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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: charge · firm · track · clip · cold · bear · chest · last

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. firm — a company
  3. last — to go on
  4. charge — a price
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. last — finally
  8. clip — for paper
  9. chest — of your body
  10. track — to keep track
  11. chest — a box
  12. firm — decided
  13. track — a path
  14. charge — electricity
  15. last — final
  16. track — a song
  17. bear — the animal
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. charge — in control
  23. bear — the animal
  24. cold — an illness

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