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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. 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. clip — for paper
  2. scale — size or range
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. clip — a video
  5. wound — an injury
  6. spell — magic
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. spell — letters
  12. wound — an injury
  13. clip — to cut
  14. scale — in music
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. spell — a short time
  17. cold — not warm
  18. 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