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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. clip — to cut
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. chest — of your body
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. file — a tool
  9. drill — a practice
  10. clip — a video
  11. wind — moving air
  12. craft — boats
  13. drill — army training
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. drill — the tool
  19. craft — a skill
  20. file — a document
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. wind — moving air
  23. clip — for paper
  24. file — a line of people

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