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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. clip — a video
  5. saw — the tool
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. cap — of ice
  8. spell — a short time
  9. bore — to drill
  10. shower — to wash
  11. cap — a hat
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spell — letters
  14. cap — a lid
  15. saw — the tool
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. clip — for paper
  21. bore — to tire
  22. spell — magic
  23. shower — rain
  24. clip — to cut

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