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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 120 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: cue · hide · mine · current · pitcher · clip · land · straw

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. clip — a video
  3. current — happening now
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. land — a country
  6. cue — a hint
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cue — for pool
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. land — to come down
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. cue — a signal
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. current — electric
  20. mine — for digging
  21. current — of water
  22. clip — for paper
  23. land — ground
  24. straw — dry grass

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