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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. game — wild animals
  4. staff — a stick
  5. staff — employees
  6. land — to come down
  7. drill — army training
  8. clip — a video
  9. game — a match
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. drill — the tool
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. land — a country
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — farmland
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. land — ground
  19. field — for sport
  20. drill — a practice
  21. staff — employees
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — for paper

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