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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 ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. clip — to cut
  3. ground — a position
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. rest — what's left
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. mug — a face
  11. rest — a break
  12. mug — to rob
  13. mug — a cup
  14. ground — the earth
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. ground — crushed
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. kid — child
  20. band — a ring
  21. clip — for paper
  22. kid — to tease
  23. clip — a video
  24. band — a music group

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