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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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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 · date · saw · roll · present · fall · clip · cell

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. roll — a cake
  3. cell — a phone
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. saw — the tool
  6. wind — moving air
  7. date — the fruit
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. cell — in biology
  11. present — a gift
  12. clip — for paper
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. clip — a video
  15. roll — a list
  16. present — there
  17. fall — to drop
  18. saw — the tool
  19. fall — the season
  20. present — the time now
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wind — moving air
  23. fall — to drop
  24. cell — in a prison

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