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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. game — a kind of play
  2. fall — to drop
  3. file — a line of people
  4. perch — the fish
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. mine — for digging
  7. snap — to click
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. file — a document
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wind — moving air
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. game — a match
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fall — the season
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. game — wild animals
  20. clip — a video
  21. file — a tool
  22. clip — for paper
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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