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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. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — a stone
  2. land — ground
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. land — a country
  5. file — a line of people
  6. land — to come down
  7. present — the time now
  8. present — a gift
  9. file — a document
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. file — a tool
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — not warm
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cold — an illness
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. ground — a position
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. ground — crushed
  21. rock — music
  22. clip — to cut
  23. ground — the earth
  24. present — there

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