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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. file — a document
  3. club — a group
  4. club — for dancing
  5. ground — crushed
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. file — a line of people
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. rash — a series
  11. clip — a video
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cell — in biology
  14. clip — for paper
  15. craft — boats
  16. rash — hasty
  17. ground — the earth
  18. club — for golf
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. clip — to cut
  22. file — a tool
  23. craft — a skill
  24. ground — a position

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