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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: march · clip · straw · wind · kid · content · bore · perch

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. content — happy
  3. clip — to cut
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. clip — for paper
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. march — the month
  8. kid — to tease
  9. bore — to drill
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. bore — to tire
  12. wind — moving air
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. content — the amount
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. march — the month
  17. clip — a video
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. wind — moving air
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. perch — the fish
  23. kid — child
  24. content — videos and posts

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