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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: clip · fall · wind · dip · cold · tear · wave · chip

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. clip — a video
  3. cold — not warm
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. wind — moving air
  8. fall — the season
  9. cold — an illness
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chip — for betting
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fall — to drop
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. tear — to rip
  20. fall — to drop
  21. clip — to cut
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. dip — to sink
  24. chip — to eat

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