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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 124 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: fan · clip · row · land · race · cold · wave · firm

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. clip — a video
  3. race — the arms race
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. land — ground
  10. race — humankind
  11. row — a line
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. row — to paddle
  15. firm — steady
  16. land — to come down
  17. race — a contest
  18. firm — a company
  19. firm — decided
  20. land — a country
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. cold — not warm
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wave — with your hand

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