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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: cold · march · clip · wound · straw · rash · mouse · last

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. march — the month
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. wound — an injury
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. cold — not warm
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — final
  10. march — music
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. clip — to cut
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wound — an injury
  15. rash — a series
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. march — the month
  19. clip — a video
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. clip — for paper
  22. rash — hasty
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. last — finally

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