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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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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: pound · bear · straw · wind · root · clip · drill · hand

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. clip — a video
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pound — a weight
  7. root — of a word
  8. drill — a practice
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. wind — moving air
  11. drill — army training
  12. hand — help
  13. bear — the animal
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. root — the cause
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bear — the animal
  19. clip — for paper
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. hand — in cards
  22. drill — the tool
  23. root — of a plant
  24. straw — a straw man

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