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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.

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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: ground · straw · clip · swing · chest · ruler · march · content

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — a box
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. march — the month
  6. swing — in golf
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. content — the amount
  9. swing — music
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. ground — a position
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. clip — for paper
  16. march — the month
  17. swing — to play on
  18. ground — crushed
  19. content — happy
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. ground — the earth
  22. chest — of your body
  23. march — music
  24. ruler — for measuring

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