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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. clip — for paper
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. prune — to trim
  8. pass — a permit
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. wound — an injury
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stand — to bear
  18. clip — to cut
  19. wound — an injury
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. cell — in biology
  22. bat — the animal
  23. clip — a video
  24. prune — to trim

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