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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. roll — a list
  6. bass — the fish
  7. mate — a friend
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. scale — in music
  12. bat — the animal
  13. scale — size or range
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. mate — to breed
  16. bass — low music
  17. deal — to handle
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. roll — a cake
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. clip — a video

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