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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 116 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: bat · land · band · straw · staff · tear · content · firm

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. tear — from crying
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. staff — a stick
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. content — happy
  9. staff — employees
  10. tear — to rip
  11. bat — the animal
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. band — a ring
  14. land — a country
  15. tear — from crying
  16. staff — employees
  17. firm — steady
  18. firm — decided
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. land — to come down
  21. content — the amount
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. band — a music group
  24. firm — a company

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