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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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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: last · race · land · shower · present · straw · clip · chip

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. clip — to cut
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. land — a country
  6. land — ground
  7. shower — rain
  8. last — to go on
  9. shower — to wash
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. present — there
  13. last — finally
  14. present — the time now
  15. chip — for betting
  16. race — a contest
  17. clip — for paper
  18. last — final
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. race — the arms race
  21. land — to come down
  22. clip — a video
  23. race — humankind
  24. chip — to eat

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