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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. scale — in music
  3. file — a document
  4. march — music
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. march — the month
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. cell — in biology
  11. file — a line of people
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. scale — size or range
  14. cell — a phone
  15. march — the month
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. straw — dry grass

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