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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — of water
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. chair — a leader
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. sharp — clever
  12. clip — a video
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — to drop
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. bat — the animal
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. clip — to cut
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. spring — the season
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. fall — the season

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