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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 116 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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pound — a weight
  5. file — a document
  6. clip — a video
  7. fall — the season
  8. current — happening now
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. club — a group
  11. file — a line of people
  12. clip — to cut
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. cold — an illness
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. current — of water
  18. club — for golf
  19. fall — to drop
  20. clip — for paper
  21. current — electric
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. file — a tool
  24. fall — to drop

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