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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. rest — what's left
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. swing — in golf
  6. rest — a break
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. degree — from a university
  12. shower — to wash
  13. hand — help
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. degree — an amount
  16. shower — rain
  17. swing — music
  18. field — for sport
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bat — the animal
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. field — farmland
  23. rest — what's left
  24. field — a subject

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