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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 120 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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  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. pit — a hole
  2. lean — thin
  3. clip — a video
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. ground — the earth
  6. craft — boats
  7. pit — in a race
  8. ground — a position
  9. clip — to cut
  10. present — a gift
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. cold — an illness
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. lean — to bend
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cold — not warm
  21. craft — a skill
  22. present — the time now
  23. ground — crushed
  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