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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. wound — an injury
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. sharp — clever
  5. ball — a dance
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. bound — tied together
  8. clip — a video
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. bound — obliged
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bound — certain
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. ball — a great time
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. sharp — exactly

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