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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 116 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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. tear — from crying
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. band — a music group
  5. file — a line of people
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — the animal
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. file — a tool
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. tear — to rip
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. tear — from crying
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. file — a document
  24. band — a ring

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