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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. tube — the underground
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a line of people
  10. race — the arms race
  11. fork — in a road
  12. race — humankind
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. chair — a leader
  17. bat — the animal
  18. race — a contest
  19. file — a document
  20. tube — a container
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. wax — to grow

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