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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. net — after costs
  4. shower — to wash
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. clip — a video
  13. wake — a trail
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. shower — rain
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. net — in sport
  18. capital — money
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. capital — a city
  21. clip — for paper
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. net — for catching

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