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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. tube — a container
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of law
  6. lean — thin
  7. lean — to bend
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. sharp — clever
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. pass — a permit
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. tube — the underground
  18. game — a match
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. game — wild animals
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. court — of a king

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