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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: cold · lean · clip · cabinet · squash · last · current · mark

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. lean — to bend
  3. clip — a video
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mark — a grade
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. clip — for paper
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. clip — to cut
  10. current — of water
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. current — electric
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. lean — thin
  16. last — finally
  17. mark — a trace
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. cold — not warm
  20. current — happening now
  21. last — to go on
  22. squash — the sport
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. squash — to crush

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