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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: mark · straw · land · shower · chair · clip · firm · band

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. shower — to wash
  4. clip — a video
  5. band — a ring
  6. mark — a grade
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. clip — for paper
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. firm — decided
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. land — to come down
  14. firm — steady
  15. mark — a trace
  16. shower — rain
  17. band — a music group
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. land — ground
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. land — a country
  23. firm — a company
  24. clip — to cut

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