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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 soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. snap — to click
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. ground — the earth
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. file — a document
  8. hand — in cards
  9. file — a line of people
  10. file — a tool
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. drill — the tool
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. drill — a practice
  15. plane — a tool
  16. bat — the animal
  17. ground — crushed
  18. hand — help
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. ground — a position
  24. hand — part of the body

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