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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: date · straw · bat · saw · clip · present · stock · shower

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. shower — rain
  4. date — the fruit
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. stock — shares
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. present — a gift
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — for paper
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. present — the time now
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. stock — goods
  18. shower — to wash
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. saw — the tool
  22. clip — a video
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. present — there

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