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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. clip — to cut
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. wind — moving air
  7. content — happy
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. cell — a phone
  10. race — humankind
  11. stand — to bear
  12. perch — the fish
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. content — the amount
  15. clip — for paper
  16. race — a contest
  17. cell — in biology
  18. chair — a leader
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. race — the arms race
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. clip — a video

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