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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. kid — to tease
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. mine — for digging
  5. clip — a video
  6. rush — hurry
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. clip — for paper
  14. saw — the tool
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. clip — to cut
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. foot — a measure
  20. chip — to eat
  21. saw — the tool
  22. kid — child
  23. chip — for betting
  24. rush — a thrill

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