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

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. bank — for money
  4. hand — in cards
  5. hand — help
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. wind — moving air
  8. degree — an amount
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. bank — for money
  12. wound — an injury
  13. tube — the underground
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. pitch — completely
  18. tube — a container
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. degree — from a university
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bank — of a river

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