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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. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. cue — a hint
  3. clip — a video
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. ball — a dance
  6. clip — for paper
  7. bat — the animal
  8. ball — a great time
  9. wind — moving air
  10. shower — to wash
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. march — the month
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. march — the month
  17. cue — for pool
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. cue — a signal
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. shower — rain
  23. wind — moving air
  24. march — music

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