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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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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 · face · clip · chair · date · fork · firm · capital

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  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. firm — steady
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. chair — a leader
  4. firm — decided
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. face — part of the head
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. clip — a video
  10. capital — a city
  11. face — to confront
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. face — to point toward
  14. clip — for paper
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. capital — money
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. fork — in a road
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. date — the fruit
  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