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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. prune — to trim
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. bat — the animal
  9. prune — to trim
  10. staff — employees
  11. staff — a stick
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. chest — a box
  15. land — to come down
  16. snap — to click
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. land — ground
  20. land — a country
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. sharp — clever
  24. staff — employees

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