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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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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: cell · rock · bat · band · patient · face · last · straw

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. bat — the animal
  4. rock — a stone
  5. rock — music
  6. face — to point toward
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. face — to confront
  12. last — to go on
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. cell — a phone
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. band — a ring
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cell — in biology
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. face — part of the head
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. band — a music group
  24. band — a rubber band

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