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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. squash — to crush
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. squash — the sport
  6. file — a line of people
  7. tube — the underground
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tube — a container
  10. tear — from crying
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. tear — to rip
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a tool
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. perch — the fish
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. straw — dry grass

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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