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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  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. bat — in an idiom
  2. hand — help
  3. rock — music
  4. file — a tool
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. shower — rain
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. drill — the tool
  11. shower — to wash
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. bat — the animal
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. hand — in cards
  16. drill — army training
  17. file — a line of people
  18. drill — a practice
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. rock — a stone
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. file — a document
  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