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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. file — a line of people
  3. pop — to visit
  4. file — a tool
  5. rest — a break
  6. pop — music
  7. last — to go on
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. clip — for paper
  14. pop — soda
  15. file — a document
  16. last — final
  17. clip — a video
  18. saw — the tool
  19. rest — what's left
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. saw — the tool
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. rest — what's left
  24. last — finally

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