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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. file — a document
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. cue — a signal
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. cold — an illness
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. cue — for pool
  10. band — a music group
  11. drill — a practice
  12. file — a line of people
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. cue — a hint
  15. cold — not warm
  16. band — a ring
  17. last — final
  18. file — a tool
  19. drill — army training
  20. last — to go on
  21. lean — thin
  22. last — finally
  23. drill — the tool
  24. lean — to bend

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