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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: face · chair · mine · wound · clip · mug · straw · tube

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. chair — a leader
  3. wound — an injury
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mug — a cup
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. tube — the underground
  8. clip — a video
  9. mug — a face
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. mug — to rob
  12. face — part of the head
  13. face — to point toward
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. tube — a container
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. clip — for paper
  18. mine — for digging
  19. face — to confront
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. tube — in a tire

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