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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 116 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. last — finally
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. bear — the animal
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bear — the animal
  10. clip — a video
  11. pop — to visit
  12. last — final
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. pop — music
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. season — in sport
  18. pound — a weight
  19. pop — soda
  20. last — to go on
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cell — in biology
  23. season — of the year
  24. clip — to cut

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