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

Word bank: ground · cell · cold · clip · wind · deal · fork · straw

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ground — the earth
  3. deal — to handle
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. clip — a video
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. wind — moving air
  10. ground — crushed
  11. fork — in a road
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. wind — moving air
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cold — not warm
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — for paper
  21. ground — a position
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — a phone
  24. straw — a straw man

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