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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: straw · chip · mate · chest · clip · cabinet

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. clip — to cut
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. mate — to breed
  6. chest — of your body
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. clip — a video
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. mate — a partner
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. mate — a friend
  15. chest — a box
  16. chip — for betting
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chip — in a computer

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