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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. club — for dancing
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. clip — to cut
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. club — a group
  8. bank — for money
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. bank — of a river
  12. prune — to trim
  13. shower — to wash
  14. clip — a video
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. bat — the animal
  17. prune — to trim
  18. kick — in football
  19. shower — rain
  20. clip — for paper
  21. bank — for money
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. straw — a straw man

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