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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 124 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: club · mouse · straw · fall · ruler · clip · wound · cold

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — a video
  5. club — for dancing
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. cold — an illness
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. club — for golf
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. wound — an injury
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. fall — to drop
  20. club — a group
  21. fall — to drop
  22. clip — for paper
  23. fall — the season
  24. cold — not warm

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