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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  24. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. hand — help
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. race — a contest
  8. safe — a strongbox
  9. squash — to crush
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. rock — a stone
  12. hand — in cards
  13. bark — to shout
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. squash — the sport
  20. race — the arms race
  21. race — humankind
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. safe — out of danger

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