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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. clip — for paper
  6. stand — to bear
  7. fall — to drop
  8. shower — rain
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. board — a committee
  12. fall — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. file — a tool
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — to cut
  17. board — to get on
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. file — a line of people
  22. clip — a video
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. cold — not warm

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