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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. charge — electricity
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. cold — an illness
  7. charge — in control
  8. march — the month
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. clip — to cut
  11. charge — a price
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. plane — a tool
  15. cold — not warm
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. march — the month
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. clip — for paper
  20. pound — a weight
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. march — music
  23. clip — a video
  24. straw — dry grass

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