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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 124 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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. craft — a skill
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. hand — in cards
  5. club — for golf
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. craft — boats
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. lean — to bend
  12. cap — a lid
  13. club — a group
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. club — for dancing
  16. cap — a hat
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. file — a tool
  19. cap — of ice
  20. hand — help
  21. file — a document
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. file — a line of people
  24. lean — thin

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