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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. game — wild animals
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — for paper
  7. cold — an illness
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. chip — to eat
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. current — happening now
  12. press — newspapers
  13. clip — to cut
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. chip — for betting
  16. current — of water
  17. craft — boats
  18. press — to push
  19. cold — not warm
  20. craft — a skill
  21. press — a publisher
  22. current — electric
  23. game — a match
  24. chip — in a computer

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