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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. can — to be able to
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. file — a document
  5. fork — in a road
  6. can — a tin
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. spring — of water
  11. clip — a video
  12. file — a line of people
  13. spring — the season
  14. wind — moving air
  15. file — a tool
  16. swing — in golf
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. swing — to play on
  19. wind — moving air
  20. swing — music
  21. clip — to cut
  22. net — in sport
  23. spring — a coil
  24. clip — for paper

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