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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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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: cue · degree · straw · clip · fall · shower

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cue — a hint
  4. shower — rain
  5. degree — from a university
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — to drop
  9. cue — a signal
  10. degree — temperature
  11. fall — the season
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. degree — an amount
  14. clip — a video
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. cue — for pool
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut

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