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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. rule — a law
  3. band — a ring
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. file — a tool
  8. last — finally
  9. bat — the animal
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. wind — moving air
  14. file — a line of people
  15. deal — to handle
  16. file — a document
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. last — to go on
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. rule — government
  22. band — a music group
  23. wind — moving air
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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