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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. bore — to tire
  3. clip — a video
  4. rest — what's left
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. field — farmland
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — to cut
  11. rest — what's left
  12. field — for sport
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. field — a subject
  17. game — a match
  18. game — wild animals
  19. rest — a break
  20. snap — to click
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. bore — to drill

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