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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: file · straw · shower · pitch · arm · wake · land · cell

  1. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. cell — in biology
  3. land — ground
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. file — a line of people
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. file — a tool
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. file — a document
  13. pitch — completely
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. cell — a phone
  17. shower — rain
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. land — to come down
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. wake — a trail
  23. land — a country
  24. shower — to wash

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