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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. row — a line
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. clip — a video
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. mug — to rob
  10. land — a country
  11. file — a tool
  12. land — ground
  13. bear — the animal
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. clip — to cut
  16. mug — a cup
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. row — to paddle
  19. file — a document
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bear — the animal
  23. file — a line of people
  24. mug — a face

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