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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: content · clip · hide · spring · file · tear · chair · game

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. file — a document
  3. spring — the season
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. tear — to rip
  7. game — a match
  8. tear — from crying
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. spring — a coil
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. file — a tool
  14. tear — from crying
  15. chair — a leader
  16. spring — of water
  17. clip — to cut
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. content — the amount
  20. content — happy
  21. game — wild animals
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. file — a line of people

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