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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: row · straw · mate · hide · clip · snap · object · march

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. clip — to cut
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. object — an aim
  6. row — a line
  7. march — music
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. clip — for paper
  11. object — a thing
  12. object — to protest
  13. mate — a partner
  14. mate — a friend
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. clip — a video
  20. march — the month
  21. row — to paddle
  22. snap — to click
  23. march — the month
  24. mate — to breed

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