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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 play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. chest — of your body
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. chest — a box
  7. chip — to eat
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. bat — the animal
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. bass — the fish
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. file — a document
  14. chest — of your body
  15. race — a contest
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. race — the arms race
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bass — low music
  23. chip — for betting
  24. race — humankind

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