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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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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: content · straw · march · spring · deal · clip · chair · drill

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — for paper
  4. drill — a practice
  5. spring — a coil
  6. spring — of water
  7. clip — a video
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. march — the month
  11. drill — army training
  12. spring — the season
  13. content — the amount
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. content — happy
  16. deal — to handle
  17. chair — a leader
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. march — the month
  22. march — music
  23. drill — the tool
  24. chair — to sit on

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