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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. clip — for paper
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. season — in sport
  6. spring — of water
  7. fine — all right
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. lean — to bend
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. spring — a coil
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. clip — a video
  14. row — a line
  15. spring — the season
  16. fine — high quality
  17. season — of the year
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — to trim
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. row — to paddle
  22. clip — to cut
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. lean — to rest against

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