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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 116 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: bass · face · clip · cell · saw · straw · swing · bound

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  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. clip — a video
  2. face — to confront
  3. swing — to play on
  4. bound — obliged
  5. face — part of the head
  6. face — to point toward
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bass — the fish
  9. swing — music
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. swing — in golf
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. saw — the tool
  14. saw — the tool
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. bound — certain
  19. bound — tied together
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. bass — low music
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. straw — a straw man
  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