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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. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. rest — what's left
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. rest — a break
  6. bat — the animal
  7. ground — crushed
  8. clip — to cut
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. wake — a trail
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rule — government
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. rule — a law
  18. clip — for paper
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. ground — the earth
  22. clip — a video
  23. ground — a position
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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