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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  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 — dry grass
  2. content — happy
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. file — a line of people
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. content — the amount
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. face — part of the head
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. bat — the animal
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. face — to confront
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. file — a document
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. face — to point toward
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  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