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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. content — happy
  3. fall — to drop
  4. fall — the season
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. track — a song
  7. spell — magic
  8. bay — to keep at bay
  9. spell — a short time
  10. file — a tool
  11. spell — letters
  12. clip — for paper
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. bay — a part of the sea
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. fall — to drop
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. track — a path
  19. content — the amount
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a document
  23. clip — a video
  24. track — to keep track

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