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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: mate · patient · chest · clip · cell · straw

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. mate — a friend
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. cell — a phone
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. mate — a partner
  12. clip — to cut
  13. cell — in biology
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. clip — a video
  17. mate — to breed
  18. straw — a straw man

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