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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. mark — a grade
  5. kid — to tease
  6. file — a document
  7. kid — child
  8. pitch — completely
  9. mark — a trace
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — to cut
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. clip — for paper
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. branch — a division
  17. file — a line of people
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. row — a line
  22. row — to paddle
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. straw — a straw man

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