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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: shower · chest · lean · clip · wave · file · wind · content

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. file — a line of people
  3. wind — moving air
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. file — a document
  6. chest — of your body
  7. lean — thin
  8. clip — for paper
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. clip — to cut
  11. content — the amount
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. shower — to wash
  14. shower — rain
  15. lean — to bend
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. chest — a box
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. chest — of your body
  21. wind — moving air
  22. content — happy
  23. clip — a video
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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