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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 116 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: mark · straw · land · shower · chair · clip

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. land — to come down
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. mark — a grade
  5. shower — rain
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — a video
  8. shower — to wash
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. land — ground
  11. clip — to cut
  12. mark — a trace
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. land — a country
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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