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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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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: clip · suit · pound · wind · pass · court · straw · tear

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. When will it ________________ you to start?
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. suit — in cards
  4. court — of a king
  5. suit — clothes
  6. tear — from crying
  7. clip — for paper
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. tear — to rip
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pass — a permit
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. court — for sport
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wind — moving air
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. court — of law
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. suit — to fit
  24. wind — moving air

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