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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: straw · drill · content · key · clip · band · shower · pitcher

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. clip — to cut
  3. key — in music
  4. clip — for paper
  5. content — happy
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. band — a music group
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. key — the most important part
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. shower — to wash
  12. drill — the tool
  13. drill — army training
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. band — a ring
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. clip — a video
  18. key — for a lock
  19. drill — a practice
  20. shower — rain
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. band — a rubber band

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