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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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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: file · patient · clip · saw · safe · march · cell · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. saw — the tool
  3. cold — not warm
  4. march — the month
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. safe — out of danger
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. cell — a phone
  10. cell — in biology
  11. march — music
  12. file — a line of people
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cold — an illness
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a document
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. clip — for paper
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. march — the month
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. safe — a strongbox
  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