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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. staff — employees
  3. cold — an illness
  4. staff — a stick
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cold — not warm
  8. staff — employees
  9. rush — hurry
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. bore — to tire
  12. bore — to drill
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. hand — in cards
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. current — electric
  17. current — happening now
  18. clip — a video
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. hand — help
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. current — of water

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