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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. mate — a partner
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. lie — to recline
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. chest — of your body
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. mate — a friend
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. chest — of your body
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. clip — to cut
  14. toast — bread
  15. clip — for paper
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. spring — a coil
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. mate — to breed
  22. chest — a box
  23. spring — of water
  24. clip — a video

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