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

Word bank: straw · row · foot · wind · cue · land · rest · bat

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. land — ground
  3. land — a country
  4. cue — a hint
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cue — for pool
  9. foot — a measure
  10. cue — a signal
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. wind — moving air
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. rest — what's left
  18. rest — a break
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a line
  21. land — to come down
  22. rest — what's left
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. row — a quarrel

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