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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. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. kick — in football
  4. clip — a video
  5. track — a path
  6. track — a song
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mine — for digging
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. cold — not warm
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. clip — to cut
  14. track — to keep track
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ground — crushed
  19. ground — the earth
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. foot — a measure
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. ground — a position

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