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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. last — final
  3. rule — a law
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. file — a line of people
  6. rule — government
  7. tear — to rip
  8. last — to go on
  9. pop — music
  10. last — finally
  11. tear — from crying
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. hand — help
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. file — a tool
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. pop — soda
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. tear — from crying
  20. hand — in cards
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. pop — to visit
  24. file — a document

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