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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. clip — a video
  3. cell — in biology
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. can — a tin
  8. can — a tin
  9. cold — an illness
  10. chip — to eat
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. can — to be able to
  14. clip — for paper
  15. capital — a city
  16. chip — for betting
  17. cold — not warm
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. clip — to cut
  22. capital — money
  23. vault — a safe
  24. cell — a phone

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