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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. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. cell — a phone
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. clip — a video
  6. scale — size or range
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. pound — a weight
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. bat — the animal
  17. saw — the tool
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — not warm
  23. clip — to cut
  24. scale — in music

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