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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: straw · cell · clip · bulb · mug · snap · march · hand

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. mug — to rob
  3. mug — a cup
  4. march — the month
  5. hand — in cards
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. mug — a face
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cell — in biology
  10. bulb — for light
  11. hand — help
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. clip — a video
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bulb — for light
  18. snap — to click
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. clip — for paper
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. cell — in a prison

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