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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: last · clip · cell · lean · fan · mug · cold · hide

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cold — an illness
  4. lean — to bend
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. mug — a face
  8. clip — a video
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. last — to go on
  12. mug — a cup
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. clip — to cut
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. clip — for paper
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cell — a phone
  21. last — finally
  22. cell — in biology
  23. lean — thin
  24. mug — to rob

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