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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. snap — to click
  3. field — for sport
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. field — a subject
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. date — the fruit
  12. file — a tool
  13. foot — a measure
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. file — a document
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. file — a line of people
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. pitch — completely
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. field — farmland
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. foot — part of the body

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