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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. clip — to cut
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. hand — in cards
  5. spell — a short time
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. game — a match
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — the tool
  10. file — a document
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. spell — magic
  13. hand — help
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — for paper
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. game — wild animals
  18. file — a line of people
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. file — a tool
  22. spell — letters
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. hand — part of the body

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