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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. firm — a company
  3. court — of law
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. hand — in cards
  6. file — a tool
  7. hand — help
  8. band — a ring
  9. court — of a king
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. firm — steady
  12. file — a line of people
  13. band — a music group
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — a subject
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. file — a document
  19. firm — decided
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. net — in sport
  22. court — for sport
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — for catching

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