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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · hand · coach · rule · mine · clip · bat · fall

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. hand — in cards
  11. wind — moving air
  12. clip — for paper
  13. hand — help
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. fall — to drop
  16. mine — for digging
  17. wind — moving air
  18. clip — to cut
  19. fall — to drop
  20. rule — government
  21. rule — a law
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. fall — the season
  24. coach — a trainer

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