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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. band — a music group
  4. pitch — completely
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. band — a ring
  7. charge — in control
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. charge — a price
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. charge — electricity
  12. clip — a video
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. land — to come down
  15. game — wild animals
  16. land — ground
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. game — a match
  21. stem — to come from
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — to cut
  24. land — a country

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