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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. vault — a safe
  5. bound — certain
  6. bound — tied together
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. clip — a video
  10. file — a line of people
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bound — obliged
  13. file — a document
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bulb — for light
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. cold — an illness
  23. file — a tool
  24. bulb — for light

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