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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 rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. rash — hasty
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. mate — to breed
  6. tear — to rip
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. file — a document
  9. rule — a law
  10. file — a line of people
  11. mate — a partner
  12. mate — a friend
  13. row — a line
  14. tear — from crying
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. shower — rain
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. shower — to wash
  19. rash — a series
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. rule — government
  23. row — to paddle
  24. tear — from crying

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