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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 116 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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. mine — for digging
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. clip — a video
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wound — an injury
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. wound — an injury
  16. file — a line of people
  17. wake — a trail
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. file — a document
  20. ball — a dance
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. ball — a great time
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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