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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. file — a document
  4. wind — moving air
  5. clip — a video
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. fall — to drop
  8. rule — government
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. land — ground
  11. file — a line of people
  12. land — a country
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. fall — the season
  16. saw — the tool
  17. saw — the tool
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a tool
  21. rule — a law
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — a phone
  24. land — to come down

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