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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. clip — a video
  3. saw — the tool
  4. chest — of your body
  5. fall — to drop
  6. race — the arms race
  7. prune — to trim
  8. fall — to drop
  9. clip — to cut
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. key — in music
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. key — for a lock
  14. club — a group
  15. key — the most important part
  16. saw — the tool
  17. chest — of your body
  18. race — humankind
  19. chest — a box
  20. prune — to trim
  21. race — a contest
  22. club — for golf
  23. clip — for paper
  24. club — for dancing

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