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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. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. ground — a position
  3. row — to paddle
  4. bass — low music
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. clip — to cut
  7. rule — a law
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rule — government
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cold — not warm
  15. stand — to bear
  16. clip — for paper
  17. row — a line
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. clip — a video
  21. bass — the fish
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. ground — crushed

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