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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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. chest — of your body
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. saw — the tool
  6. chest — a box
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. capital — a city
  9. clip — for paper
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. sharp — clever
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. stem — to come from
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chest — of your body
  16. club — for dancing
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. club — for golf
  20. clip — a video
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. capital — money
  24. saw — the tool

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