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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. swing — music
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. net — for catching
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a line of people
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. swing — in golf
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. mark — a trace
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. file — a document
  21. net — in sport
  22. mark — a grade
  23. swing — to play on
  24. net — after costs

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