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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  16. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. track — to keep track
  3. ball — a great time
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — the animal
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. file — a tool
  9. ball — a dance
  10. bank — of a river
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. file — a document
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bay — a part of the sea
  16. bay — to keep at bay
  17. track — a song
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bank — for money
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. clip — a video
  22. bank — for money
  23. file — a line of people
  24. clip — to cut

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