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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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. clip — for paper
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. ball — a dance
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. clip — a video
  10. kid — child
  11. key — in music
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. row — a line
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. clip — to cut
  18. kid — to tease
  19. key — for a lock
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. ball — a great time
  22. key — the most important part
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. sharp — clever

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