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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. row — a line
  4. stand — to bear
  5. clip — a video
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. game — a match
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. roll — a list
  15. roll — a cake
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. cell — in biology
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. row — to paddle
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. game — wild animals

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