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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. clip — a video
  3. snap — to click
  4. fine — all right
  5. bass — the fish
  6. bass — low music
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. clip — to cut
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. clip — for paper
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. rash — hasty
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. cold — not warm
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. pitch — completely
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. cold — an illness
  22. rash — a series
  23. fine — high quality
  24. cold — the Cold War

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