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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: sharp · straw · mine · bulb · foot · bat · capital · row

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. foot — a measure
  13. capital — a city
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — for digging
  16. bulb — for light
  17. row — a line
  18. row — to paddle
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. sharp — clever
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. capital — money
  23. bulb — for light
  24. foot — part of the body

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