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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 116 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: swing · straw · kick · clip · march · trunk · degree · stand

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. march — music
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. clip — a video
  9. swing — to play on
  10. degree — temperature
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. kick — in football
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. swing — in golf
  17. degree — from a university
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. swing — music
  20. degree — an amount
  21. clip — for paper
  22. stand — to bear
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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