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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 120 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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. sharp — clever
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. clip — for paper
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. clip — a video
  11. spell — letters
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. chest — a box
  14. chest — of your body
  15. spring — a coil
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. chest — of your body
  18. spell — a short time
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. pass — a permit
  22. spell — magic
  23. spring — of water
  24. sharp — with an edge

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