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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. net — in sport
  6. net — for catching
  7. file — a document
  8. swing — to play on
  9. band — a music group
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. swing — in golf
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. file — a tool
  14. clip — a video
  15. swing — music
  16. net — after costs
  17. clip — for paper
  18. file — a line of people
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. clip — to cut

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