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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. fall — the season
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. saw — the tool
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. spring — a coil
  7. spring — the season
  8. clip — a video
  9. bat — the animal
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. band — a ring
  12. band — a music group
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spring — of water
  17. fall — to drop
  18. saw — the tool
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. clip — for paper
  21. fall — to drop
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. scale — in music
  24. scale — size or range

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