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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 120 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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. fine — high quality
  3. fine — all right
  4. saw — the tool
  5. tear — from crying
  6. fall — to drop
  7. clip — to cut
  8. staff — a stick
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. saw — the tool
  11. fall — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. clip — for paper
  14. sharp — clever
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. chip — for betting
  19. staff — employees
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. chip — to eat
  23. clip — a video
  24. sharp — with an edge

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