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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. clip — a video
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. content — the amount
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. court — of a king
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — the season
  12. wind — moving air
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. clip — to cut
  15. craft — a skill
  16. clip — for paper
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. content — happy
  20. court — for sport
  21. court — of law
  22. craft — boats
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. spring — of water

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