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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 116 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. clip — for paper
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. hand — help
  7. bulb — for light
  8. file — a line of people
  9. row — a line
  10. pound — a weight
  11. file — a tool
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. clip — to cut
  14. row — to paddle
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. file — a document
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. clip — a video
  22. bulb — for light
  23. hand — in cards
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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