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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. court — of law
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. staff — a stick
  8. staff — employees
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pit — a hole
  11. file — a tool
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. pit — in a race
  14. hand — help
  15. court — of a king
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. file — a document
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. staff — employees
  23. court — for sport
  24. file — a line of people

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