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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. cap — a lid
  3. cap — of ice
  4. clip — to cut
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. charge — electricity
  11. craft — a skill
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. charge — in control
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. band — a music group
  16. craft — boats
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. hand — help
  19. cap — a hat
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. charge — a price
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — a video
  24. hand — in cards

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