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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. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. board — a committee
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. field — for sport
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. ball — a dance
  11. clip — for paper
  12. field — farmland
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. field — a subject
  17. ball — a great time
  18. staff — employees
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. staff — employees
  22. board — to get on
  23. dip — to sink
  24. ball — a round shape

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