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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 hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. band — a ring
  7. bat — the animal
  8. clip — to cut
  9. mine — for digging
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — an illness
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. foot — a measure
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. cold — not warm
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. clip — for paper
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. clip — a video
  24. band — a music group

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