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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. clip — for paper
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. spring — a coil
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. kid — to tease
  7. chair — a leader
  8. clip — a video
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. kid — child
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. spring — of water
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. clip — to cut
  22. plane — a tool
  23. spring — the season
  24. nail — on a finger

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