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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: game · kick · roll · clip · stand · straw

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. stand — to bear
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. game — wild animals
  7. kick — in football
  8. clip — to cut
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. roll — a cake
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. game — a match
  17. roll — a list
  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