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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: march · spell · straw · clip · content · lie · wake · cell

  1. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. march — the month
  3. content — the amount
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. spell — letters
  6. march — the month
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. cell — a phone
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. march — music
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. content — happy
  16. spell — magic
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. cell — in biology
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wake — a trail
  23. clip — a video
  24. spell — a short time

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