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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. dip — to sink
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. content — happy
  5. file — a tool
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. march — the month
  8. content — the amount
  9. degree — temperature
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. march — the month
  12. file — a document
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. file — a line of people
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. degree — from a university
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — help
  22. hand — in cards
  23. degree — an amount
  24. march — music

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