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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 always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wound — an injury
  3. saw — the tool
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rest — what's left
  7. wound — an injury
  8. field — farmland
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — part of the head
  12. face — to point toward
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. field — a subject
  15. saw — the tool
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. rest — what's left
  18. clip — for paper
  19. rest — a break
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. field — for sport
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. clip — a video

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