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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. bore — to drill
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. clip — a video
  6. file — a document
  7. spring — the season
  8. wake — a trail
  9. bore — to tire
  10. file — a tool
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. file — a line of people
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. clip — to cut
  17. fork — in a road
  18. spring — of water
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. spring — a coil
  23. clip — for paper
  24. arm — part of the body

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