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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 120 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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. clip — to cut
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. chip — to eat
  5. saw — the tool
  6. land — to come down
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. land — ground
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. clip — a video
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. squash — to crush
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. saw — the tool
  16. clip — for paper
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. root — the cause
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. chip — for betting
  21. root — of a plant
  22. land — a country
  23. root — of a word
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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