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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. land — to come down
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. land — a country
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. scale — in music
  11. club — for golf
  12. club — for dancing
  13. branch — a division
  14. scale — size or range
  15. kid — to tease
  16. clip — a video
  17. club — a group
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. kid — child
  20. plane — a tool
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — to cut
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. straw — dry grass

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