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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wax — to grow
  14. clip — to cut
  15. track — a path
  16. mine — for digging
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. rest — a break
  19. perch — the fish
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. track — a song
  22. track — to keep track
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. fan — a supporter

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