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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: tear · saw · march · race · fan · clip · chip · ground

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. clip — for paper
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. chip — to eat
  5. ground — a position
  6. ground — crushed
  7. clip — to cut
  8. march — the month
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. race — the arms race
  11. saw — the tool
  12. clip — a video
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. march — music
  15. ground — the earth
  16. chip — for betting
  17. march — the month
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. race — humankind
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. race — a contest
  23. tear — from crying
  24. saw — the tool

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