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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 124 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 was locked up in a ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  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. cell — in a prison
  2. rash — a series
  3. clip — for paper
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. ground — the earth
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. rash — hasty
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. clip — to cut
  12. wind — moving air
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. cell — in biology
  16. ground — a position
  17. ground — crushed
  18. cell — a phone
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a line
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — to turn a key
  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