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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: clip · straw · cell · fall · pitch · club · cabinet · court

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. court — for sport
  3. fall — to drop
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. fall — to drop
  10. fall — the season
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. pitch — completely
  13. clip — a video
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. court — of a king
  17. court — of law
  18. clip — to cut
  19. club — for golf
  20. club — for dancing
  21. cell — a phone
  22. clip — for paper
  23. club — a group
  24. cell — in biology

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