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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. tube — a container
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. roll — a cake
  6. current — of water
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. clip — a video
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. bat — the animal
  11. tube — the underground
  12. ground — a position
  13. ground — crushed
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — the season
  16. fall — to drop
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. current — happening now
  19. ground — the earth
  20. roll — a list
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. current — electric
  24. clip — for paper

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