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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: wave · bat · saw · cold · straw · pound · clip · bank

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. saw — the tool
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. bank — for money
  6. cold — not warm
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. pound — a weight
  9. clip — for paper
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bank — of a river
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. clip — a video
  20. bank — for money
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. saw — the tool
  24. bat — for baseball

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