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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. file — a document
  3. file — a line of people
  4. cell — in biology
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bass — low music
  7. mug — a cup
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. mug — to rob
  10. capital — money
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cell — a phone
  13. lean — thin
  14. lean — to bend
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. mug — a face
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bass — the fish
  21. file — a tool
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. capital — a city
  24. hide — to keep secret

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