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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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Word bank
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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 · coach · cell · toast · clip · tear

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. clip — for paper
  3. toast — bread
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. cell — a phone
  9. clip — a video
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. tear — from crying
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cell — in biology
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. tear — to rip
  18. coach — a trainer

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