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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. wound — an injury
  3. mug — to rob
  4. season — of the year
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. bound — certain
  7. ground — the earth
  8. bound — obliged
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. mug — a face
  11. mine — for digging
  12. mug — a cup
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wound — an injury
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bound — tied together
  18. season — in sport
  19. clip — a video
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. ground — crushed
  22. clip — for paper
  23. ground — a position
  24. mine — an explosive

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