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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. tube — the underground
  5. clip — a video
  6. wind — moving air
  7. tube — a container
  8. row — to paddle
  9. rash — a series
  10. rash — hasty
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. clip — for paper
  14. row — a line
  15. clip — to cut
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. stock — shares
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. stock — goods
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. wind — moving air

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