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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. fall — to drop
  3. march — the month
  4. march — the month
  5. mine — for digging
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. march — music
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. fall — to drop
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. fall — the season
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. branch — a division
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. clip — for paper
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. branch — of a bank

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