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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 felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. swing — in golf
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. chair — a leader
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. swing — music
  11. swing — to play on
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. sharp — clever
  16. bark — to shout
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — the animal
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — a box
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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