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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. clip — a video
  6. fall — to drop
  7. bass — the fish
  8. ground — a position
  9. hand — in cards
  10. lean — to bend
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — the earth
  13. bass — low music
  14. fall — the season
  15. hand — help
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. fall — to drop
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — for paper
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — money
  23. lean — thin
  24. fan — a supporter

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