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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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — for paper
  4. chip — for betting
  5. bound — tied together
  6. chest — of your body
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. chip — to eat
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. ball — a great time
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. cold — an illness
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. clip — to cut
  18. ball — a dance
  19. bound — certain
  20. cold — not warm
  21. band — a ring
  22. bound — obliged
  23. band — a music group
  24. chest — of your body

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