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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. pop — to visit
  3. clip — to cut
  4. craft — a skill
  5. cold — not warm
  6. band — a ring
  7. stand — to bear
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. craft — boats
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kick — in football
  13. clip — for paper
  14. band — a music group
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. pop — music
  18. file — a document
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. file — a line of people
  22. pop — soda
  23. clip — a video
  24. band — a rubber band

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