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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. staff — a stick
  3. file — a line of people
  4. file — a tool
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. file — a document
  8. object — a thing
  9. bat — the animal
  10. snap — to click
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. object — to protest
  13. cold — not warm
  14. staff — employees
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. dip — to sink
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. staff — employees
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. clip — to cut
  23. object — an aim
  24. clip — for paper

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