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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. land — a country
  3. rash — a series
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. board — to get on
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. land — ground
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. hand — in cards
  17. board — a committee
  18. rash — hasty
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. land — to come down
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. hand — help
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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