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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 is an ace ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. mug — to rob
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. band — a ring
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. mug — a cup
  10. snap — to click
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. band — a music group
  16. bat — the animal
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cold — an illness
  19. mug — a face
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. ruler — a monarch
  23. cold — not warm
  24. ruler — for measuring

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