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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 120 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 · fork · tear · clip · chest · mouse

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. tear — from crying
  3. chest — of your body
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. clip — to cut
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. clip — a video
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. fork — in a road
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. clip — for paper
  18. fork — to eat with

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