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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. file — a document
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. spell — a short time
  6. wax — to grow
  7. field — for sport
  8. file — a line of people
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. spell — magic
  11. field — a subject
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spell — letters
  14. cold — not warm
  15. field — farmland
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. mate — to breed
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. mate — a partner
  24. file — a tool

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