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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: row · band · clip · straw · club · bat · fall · chip

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. fall — to drop
  3. fall — to drop
  4. row — to paddle
  5. chip — for betting
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. clip — a video
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. row — a line
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. bat — the animal
  12. clip — to cut
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. clip — for paper
  15. club — a group
  16. fall — the season
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. band — a ring
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. club — for golf
  22. chip — to eat
  23. club — for dancing
  24. band — a music group

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