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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 116 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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. mate — to breed
  4. clip — to cut
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — to drop
  7. clip — a video
  8. deal — to handle
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. tear — from crying
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. charge — electricity
  13. charge — a price
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mate — a friend
  16. land — ground
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. tear — to rip
  20. land — to come down
  21. land — a country
  22. fall — the season
  23. tear — from crying
  24. charge — in control

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