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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 seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bound — obliged
  3. clip — a video
  4. chest — of your body
  5. march — music
  6. bank — for money
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bank — for money
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bound — certain
  13. cold — an illness
  14. march — the month
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. bear — the animal
  17. bear — the animal
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. bank — of a river
  21. chest — a box
  22. march — the month
  23. bound — tied together
  24. chest — of your body

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