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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. clip — to cut
  6. current — of water
  7. clip — for paper
  8. current — electric
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. race — the arms race
  12. scale — in music
  13. race — humankind
  14. current — happening now
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. bound — tied together
  17. scale — size or range
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. bound — obliged
  20. wake — a trail
  21. bound — certain
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. race — a contest
  24. clip — a video

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