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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. file — a tool
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. row — a line
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. mark — a grade
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. stock — shares
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. plane — a tool
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. row — to paddle
  18. mark — a trace
  19. file — a line of people
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. file — a document
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. stock — goods
  24. bat — the animal

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