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

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. sharp — clever
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. clip — to cut
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. spring — the season
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. clip — for paper
  13. content — the amount
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. spring — a coil
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — happy
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — moving air
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. shower — to wash
  22. clip — a video
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. spring — 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