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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. drill — a practice
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. branch — a division
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. file — a document
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. degree — an amount
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. file — a line of people
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. tear — from crying
  17. drill — the tool
  18. wax — to grow
  19. degree — from a university
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. degree — temperature
  23. drill — army training
  24. file — a tool

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