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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: bear · clip · wave · mouse · cold · coach · content · file

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. content — the amount
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. clip — to cut
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. clip — a video
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. content — happy
  11. cold — not warm
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a tool
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bear — the animal
  18. file — a line of people
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. cold — an illness
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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