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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 120 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. stand — to bear
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. rule — a law
  6. clip — to cut
  7. march — the month
  8. cold — not warm
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. march — music
  12. rule — government
  13. court — for sport
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — an illness
  16. court — of a king
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. chest — of your body
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. court — of law
  21. chest — a box
  22. march — the month
  23. clip — for paper
  24. cold — the Cold War

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