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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. track — a path
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. track — to keep track
  7. track — a song
  8. clip — for paper
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. bear — the animal
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. bear — the animal
  15. file — a line of people
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. clip — to cut
  18. present — there
  19. file — a tool
  20. present — a gift
  21. clip — a video
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. present — the time now
  24. file — a document

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