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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. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. craft — boats
  3. craft — a skill
  4. swing — in golf
  5. swing — music
  6. game — a match
  7. mate — a partner
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. toast — bread
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mate — a friend
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. swing — to play on
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. game — wild animals
  21. clip — to cut
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. clip — a video
  24. mate — to breed

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