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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. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. last — to go on
  3. last — final
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. spring — a coil
  9. last — finally
  10. object — to protest
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. chip — for betting
  14. clip — for paper
  15. present — the time now
  16. chip — to eat
  17. object — an aim
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. present — a gift
  20. bat — the animal
  21. present — there
  22. spring — of water
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. spring — the season

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