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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. present — the time now
  3. cold — an illness
  4. object — to protest
  5. file — a tool
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. fine — high quality
  8. object — a thing
  9. object — an aim
  10. clip — for paper
  11. present — there
  12. file — a document
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. fine — all right
  18. cold — not warm
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. present — a gift
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. file — a line of people
  24. cold — the Cold War

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