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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: file · clip · hand · straw · march · net · band · perch

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  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 — a video
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. file — a document
  5. perch — the fish
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. net — after costs
  9. file — a tool
  10. band — a ring
  11. clip — for paper
  12. hand — help
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. clip — to cut
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. march — music
  17. march — the month
  18. file — a line of people
  19. net — in sport
  20. hand — in cards
  21. march — the month
  22. net — for catching
  23. band — a music group
  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