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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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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 · chair · pop · clip · trunk · board · straw · cell

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  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. straw — a straw man
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. board — a committee
  4. club — for dancing
  5. cell — a phone
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. board — to get on
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. chair — a leader
  12. club — for golf
  13. pop — music
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. cell — in biology
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. clip — a video
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. pop — soda
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. pop — to visit
  23. club — a group
  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