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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. cold — an illness
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bulb — for light
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a line of people
  9. clip — a video
  10. staff — employees
  11. mine — for digging
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. bound — certain
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. bound — tied together
  18. bound — obliged
  19. clip — for paper
  20. file — a document
  21. staff — employees
  22. staff — a stick
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. bulb — for light

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