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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: pop · mug · land · clip · mate · cell · wound · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — a video
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. pop — soda
  6. wound — an injury
  7. land — to come down
  8. land — a country
  9. pop — to visit
  10. mug — a cup
  11. mate — to breed
  12. mate — a friend
  13. cell — a phone
  14. land — ground
  15. cell — in biology
  16. mug — a face
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mate — a partner
  20. mug — to rob
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pop — 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