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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. file — a tool
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. scale — in music
  7. clip — to cut
  8. row — to paddle
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pound — a weight
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. wind — moving air
  13. row — a line
  14. clip — a video
  15. file — a line of people
  16. file — a document
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. chest — a box
  19. scale — size or range
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. chest — of your body
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. wind — moving air

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