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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. march — the month
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. clip — to cut
  8. file — a document
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. net — for catching
  11. land — a country
  12. clip — a video
  13. net — in sport
  14. land — ground
  15. file — a tool
  16. march — music
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. file — a line of people
  19. tear — to rip
  20. clip — for paper
  21. march — the month
  22. net — after costs
  23. tear — from crying
  24. straw — dry grass

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