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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. press — to push
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. tube — the underground
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. prune — to trim
  11. cap — a lid
  12. cap — a hat
  13. chest — a box
  14. track — a song
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. press — newspapers
  17. cap — of ice
  18. tube — a container
  19. chest — of your body
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. prune — to trim
  22. chest — of your body
  23. press — a publisher
  24. track — a path

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