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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 120 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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. fall — to drop
  3. file — a tool
  4. fall — to drop
  5. tear — to rip
  6. key — in music
  7. hand — in cards
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bass — the fish
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. key — the most important part
  12. tear — from crying
  13. key — for a lock
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. fall — the season
  16. hand — help
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. file — a document
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. ball — a dance
  22. file — a line of people
  23. bass — low music
  24. straw — a straw man

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