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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: present · band · court · row · spell · clip · fall · straw

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. court — of a king
  3. fall — the season
  4. present — a gift
  5. fall — to drop
  6. court — for sport
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. clip — a video
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. row — a line
  11. clip — to cut
  12. row — to paddle
  13. present — the time now
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. fall — to drop
  16. band — a ring
  17. present — there
  18. court — of law
  19. clip — for paper
  20. spell — a short time
  21. spell — magic
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. row — a quarrel

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