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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 116 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. clip — a video
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cap — of ice
  6. clip — to cut
  7. mine — for digging
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cap — a lid
  10. wind — moving air
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. cold — an illness
  13. clip — for paper
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. cell — a phone
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. cap — a hat

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