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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. spell — a short time
  3. roll — a list
  4. file — a tool
  5. bank — for money
  6. bat — the animal
  7. field — a subject
  8. key — the most important part
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. key — for a lock
  12. field — farmland
  13. bank — of a river
  14. field — for sport
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. spell — letters
  19. key — in music
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. spell — magic
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. file — a document
  24. bank — for money

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