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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: club · straw · clip · present · mark · bass · lean · chest

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. present — a gift
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. club — for dancing
  5. club — for golf
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. chest — of your body
  9. clip — for paper
  10. chest — a box
  11. bass — low music
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. clip — to cut
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. mark — a grade
  16. lean — thin
  17. lean — to bend
  18. present — there
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. clip — a video
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bass — the fish
  23. present — the time now
  24. club — a group

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