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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. pop — soda
  6. saw — the tool
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. pop — music
  9. pop — to visit
  10. saw — the tool
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. clip — to cut
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cold — not warm
  15. clip — a video
  16. fall — the season
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cell — in biology
  21. wake — a trail
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. fan — to cool the air

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