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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. land — a country
  4. present — there
  5. band — a ring
  6. file — a document
  7. present — the time now
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. land — ground
  10. squash — to crush
  11. date — the fruit
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. squash — the sport
  14. land — to come down
  15. file — a line of people
  16. last — final
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. last — finally
  19. band — a music group
  20. file — a tool
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. last — to go on

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