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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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. club — for dancing
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. face — to confront
  7. band — a ring
  8. hand — help
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. club — a group
  11. stem — to come from
  12. hand — in cards
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. face — to point toward
  17. band — a music group
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. face — part of the head
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. mine — for digging
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. club — for golf

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