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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 120 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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. rash — a series
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. land — a country
  6. land — to come down
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. clip — for paper
  9. swing — to play on
  10. pound — a weight
  11. swing — in golf
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. clip — a video
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — temperature
  16. land — ground
  17. degree — an amount
  18. plane — a tool
  19. clip — to cut
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. swing — music
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. rash — hasty

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