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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. face — to confront
  3. present — a gift
  4. last — final
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. last — to go on
  7. clip — to cut
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. face — part of the head
  11. squash — to crush
  12. bark — to shout
  13. face — to point toward
  14. clip — a video
  15. squash — the sport
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. last — finally
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. clip — for paper
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  24. bark — of a tree

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