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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  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. march — the month
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. march — music
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. spell — magic
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. branch — a division
  11. wind — moving air
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. march — the month
  14. wind — moving air
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. file — a tool
  17. spell — letters
  18. spell — a short time
  19. file — a document
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. branch — of a bank
  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