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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. staff — a stick
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. deal — to handle
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. spell — magic
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. cold — not warm
  14. staff — employees
  15. spell — a short time
  16. pitch — completely
  17. cold — an illness
  18. present — a gift
  19. spell — letters
  20. clip — a video
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. staff — employees
  23. present — the time now
  24. deal — an agreement

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