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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. clip — to cut
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. content — the amount
  5. lean — thin
  6. can — a tin
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. can — a tin
  9. file — a tool
  10. can — to be able to
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. bat — the animal
  13. clip — for paper
  14. file — a document
  15. wax — to grow
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. file — a line of people
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. content — happy
  23. clip — a video
  24. lean — to bend

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