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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. tube — a container
  4. roll — a list
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. band — a music group
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. tube — the underground
  14. roll — a cake
  15. band — a ring
  16. file — a tool
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a line of people
  21. row — a line
  22. row — to paddle
  23. file — a document
  24. row — a quarrel

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