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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. race — the arms race
  3. race — a contest
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. hand — in cards
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bear — the animal
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. scale — in music
  10. scale — size or range
  11. file — a tool
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. race — humankind
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. file — a line of people
  20. hand — help
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bear — the animal
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. file — a document

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