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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. tear — from crying
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. file — a line of people
  8. clip — a video
  9. wind — moving air
  10. file — a document
  11. tear — to rip
  12. pass — a permit
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. tear — from crying
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. wind — moving air
  17. clip — to cut
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. clip — for paper
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. file — a tool
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. craft — a skill

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