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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 116 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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. file — a line of people
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. game — wild animals
  6. wind — moving air
  7. file — a document
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. file — a tool
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. row — to paddle
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. wind — moving air
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. row — a line
  22. clip — to cut
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. row — a quarrel

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