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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. key — in music
  5. kid — to tease
  6. kid — child
  7. object — to protest
  8. mark — a trace
  9. mark — a grade
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. object — a thing
  12. clip — to cut
  13. key — the most important part
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. clip — a video
  16. file — a tool
  17. key — for a lock
  18. object — an aim
  19. wind — moving air
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. wind — moving air
  22. clip — for paper
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a line of people

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