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

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. clip — for paper
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. capital — a city
  7. game — a match
  8. branch — a division
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. capital — money
  12. clip — to cut
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. clip — a video

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