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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 · sharp · clip · wind · cap · bat · hand · kick

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. clip — a video
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. wind — moving air
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. kick — in football
  11. cap — a hat
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. sharp — clever
  16. bat — the animal
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. cap — of ice
  19. cap — a lid
  20. wind — moving air
  21. hand — help
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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