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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: straw · leaves · content · wind · row · pop · mark · clip

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. pop — to visit
  3. clip — to cut
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. row — a line
  7. mark — a grade
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. mark — a trace
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. clip — a video
  12. pop — music
  13. content — happy
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. wind — moving air
  16. pop — soda
  17. clip — for paper
  18. content — the amount
  19. wind — moving air
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. row — to paddle

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