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

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. clip — a video
  5. chip — for betting
  6. root — the cause
  7. clip — for paper
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. cold — an illness
  10. last — final
  11. root — of a word
  12. clip — to cut
  13. last — finally
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. root — of a plant
  17. chip — to eat
  18. last — to go on

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