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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. clip — a video
  3. object — to protest
  4. cold — not warm
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. file — a tool
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. file — a document
  10. cell — in biology
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. object — a thing
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. clip — to cut
  15. net — after costs
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. cell — a phone
  18. net — for catching
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — for paper
  21. file — a line of people
  22. net — in sport
  23. cold — an illness
  24. object — an aim

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