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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. club — for golf
  3. key — for a lock
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. band — a music group
  6. key — in music
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. tear — to rip
  9. band — a ring
  10. chest — of your body
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — from crying
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. chest — a box
  15. mine — for digging
  16. chest — of your body
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. club — a group
  19. key — the most important part
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. wax — to grow
  23. club — for dancing
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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