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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. ground — crushed
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. saw — the tool
  6. ground — the earth
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. rash — hasty
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. clip — a video
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. clip — to cut
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. pass — a permit
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. ground — a position
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. saw — the tool
  24. rash — a series

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