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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. current — happening now
  6. clip — a video
  7. mine — for digging
  8. clip — for paper
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. swing — in golf
  12. swing — to play on
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. swing — music
  16. clip — to cut
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. bound — tied together
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. pitch — completely
  21. current — of water
  22. bound — obliged
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. current — electric

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