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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's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. rush — hurry
  4. hand — help
  5. bound — certain
  6. bound — tied together
  7. staff — employees
  8. hand — in cards
  9. clip — for paper
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. staff — a stick
  16. fork — in a road
  17. bound — obliged
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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