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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 120 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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. When will it ________________ you to start?
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. wake — a trail
  4. court — of law
  5. club — a group
  6. suit — clothes
  7. file — a document
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. court — for sport
  11. suit — in cards
  12. mine — for digging
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. cell — a phone
  15. suit — to fit
  16. club — for dancing
  17. cell — in biology
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. court — of a king
  20. club — for golf
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. file — a line of people
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. wake — before a funeral

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