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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. rash — hasty
  6. wound — an injury
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. cell — a phone
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. rash — a series
  15. cell — in biology
  16. bat — the animal
  17. wax — to grow
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. bark — to shout
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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