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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. drill — the tool
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. drill — army training
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bat — the animal
  11. cell — in biology
  12. ball — a great time
  13. cell — a phone
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. drill — a practice
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. shower — to wash
  21. ball — a dance
  22. shower — rain
  23. wake — a trail
  24. dip — to sink

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