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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 120 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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. file — a tool
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. bulb — for light
  5. clip — to cut
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — help
  11. bulb — for light
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. kid — to tease
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. file — a document
  16. bay — to keep at bay
  17. kid — child
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. stem — to come from
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. file — a line of people

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