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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. land — ground
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. clip — for paper
  8. lean — thin
  9. land — to come down
  10. bass — the fish
  11. last — to go on
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. land — a country
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. sharp — clever
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. clip — a video
  19. lean — to bend
  20. bass — low music
  21. last — finally
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. clip — to cut
  24. sharp — with an edge

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