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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 120 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: saw · ball · land · mate · band · wound · clip · straw

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. clip — for paper
  3. mate — to breed
  4. ball — a dance
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. land — ground
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. land — to come down
  9. saw — the tool
  10. ball — a great time
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. band — a ring
  14. saw — the tool
  15. band — a music group
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — to cut
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. mate — a friend
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. land — a country
  23. mate — a partner
  24. wound — an injury

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