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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. drill — army training
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. staff — a stick
  6. rash — hasty
  7. staff — employees
  8. key — the most important part
  9. clip — a video
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. staff — employees
  12. drill — a practice
  13. date — the fruit
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. cell — a phone
  18. drill — the tool
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. key — for a lock
  21. cell — in biology
  22. rash — a series
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. key — in music

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