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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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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: bear · cold · mug · coach · race · file · clip · cell

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. bear — the animal
  4. mug — to rob
  5. file — a line of people
  6. cold — not warm
  7. file — a tool
  8. cell — in biology
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. mug — a face
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. cold — an illness
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mug — a cup
  15. race — a contest
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. race — the arms race
  19. cell — a phone
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bear — the animal
  22. file — a document
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. race — humankind

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