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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. present — there
  3. clip — for paper
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. clip — to cut
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. wind — moving air
  11. hand — in cards
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. root — of a word
  15. present — the time now
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. present — a gift
  18. capital — money
  19. clip — a video
  20. capital — a city
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. root — of a plant
  23. hand — help
  24. root — the cause

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