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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. kid — to tease
  4. row — a line
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. hand — help
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. charge — in control
  14. charge — a price
  15. row — to paddle
  16. clip — to cut
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. clip — for paper
  19. band — a music group
  20. clip — a video
  21. kid — child
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. charge — electricity
  24. band — a ring

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