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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 · chair · roll · tear · kid · clip

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. tear — to rip
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. tear — from crying
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. roll — a list
  9. kid — to tease
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. tear — from crying
  15. chair — a leader
  16. roll — a cake
  17. kid — child
  18. clip — a video

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