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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. band — a music group
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. bound — obliged
  5. cold — an illness
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. clip — a video
  8. bound — tied together
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. clip — for paper
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. perch — the fish
  13. clip — to cut
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. bound — certain
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. band — a ring

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