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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. wake — a trail
  3. fall — the season
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. degree — an amount
  8. fall — to drop
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. hand — in cards
  11. degree — from a university
  12. object — an aim
  13. tear — from crying
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. object — a thing
  19. clip — to cut
  20. tear — to rip
  21. clip — a video
  22. fall — to drop
  23. degree — temperature
  24. object — to protest

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