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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. mate — a friend
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. fall — the season
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. march — music
  9. swing — to play on
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — to drop
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. march — the month
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. swing — in golf
  19. branch — a division
  20. swing — music
  21. clip — to cut
  22. march — the month
  23. wax — to grow
  24. mate — a partner

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