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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 seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. ball — a dance
  3. band — a music group
  4. ball — a great time
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. rest — a break
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. band — a ring
  12. sharp — clever
  13. clip — for paper
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — what's left
  16. hand — in cards
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. hand — help
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. clip — a video
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. fan — to cool the air

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