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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: wake · file · cold · clip · fan · spring · board · scale

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. scale — size or range
  3. file — a tool
  4. spring — a coil
  5. file — a document
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wake — a trail
  12. file — a line of people
  13. clip — a video
  14. scale — in music
  15. spring — of water
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spring — the season
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. cold — not warm
  22. clip — to cut
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. board — to get on

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