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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's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. present — a gift
  3. file — a tool
  4. face — to confront
  5. staff — a stick
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. face — to point toward
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — temperature
  13. present — the time now
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. present — there
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. file — a line of people
  19. degree — from a university
  20. face — part of the head
  21. file — a document
  22. bat — the animal
  23. staff — employees
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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