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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  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. straw — a straw man
  2. spell — letters
  3. spell — a short time
  4. last — final
  5. file — a document
  6. spell — magic
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. ground — the earth
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. can — to be able to
  11. march — the month
  12. drill — army training
  13. can — a tin
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — the tool
  16. march — music
  17. last — to go on
  18. can — a tin
  19. march — the month
  20. file — a line of people
  21. ground — crushed
  22. last — finally
  23. ground — a position
  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