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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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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 · rock · tear · stick · deal · clip · cell · capital

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — to cut
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — a phone
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. capital — a city
  17. rock — music
  18. rock — a stone
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. capital — money
  21. tear — to rip
  22. cell — in biology
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. deal — to handle

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