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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: cold · ground · wake · file · board · clip · safe · court

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He has no idea where the ________________ is.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — a video
  4. ground — a position
  5. ground — the earth
  6. file — a tool
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. board — a committee
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wake — a trail
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. court — of law
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. ground — crushed
  15. court — of a king
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. board — to get on
  19. court — for sport
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. file — a line of people
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. file — a document
  24. safe — a strongbox

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