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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. cold — not warm
  4. row — a line
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. row — to paddle
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. craft — a skill
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cell — in biology
  13. clip — a video
  14. fork — in a road
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rule — government
  17. craft — boats
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — to cut
  24. rule — a law

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