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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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. shower — to wash
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. roll — a cake
  6. row — a line
  7. scale — size or range
  8. clip — for paper
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. shower — rain
  11. roll — a list
  12. staff — employees
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. scale — in music
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. staff — employees
  19. staff — a stick
  20. rash — hasty
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. row — to paddle
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. row — a quarrel

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