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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
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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: march · lie · cold · clip · mug · bore · mark · mine

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. clip — for paper
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. bore — to tire
  5. march — the month
  6. march — music
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mark — a trace
  9. march — the month
  10. mug — a face
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. bore — to drill
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. mug — to rob
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mug — a cup
  18. mark — a grade
  19. mine — for digging
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. lie — to recline
  24. cold — the Cold War

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