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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mine · plane · sharp · straw · row · clip · race · chair

  1. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. mine — for digging
  5. row — a line
  6. chair — a leader
  7. race — a contest
  8. plane — a tool
  9. race — the arms race
  10. clip — a video
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. clip — to cut
  13. sharp — clever
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. row — to paddle
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. race — humankind
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. sharp — with an edge

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