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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: straw · squash · stem · ground · file · lash · bat · arm

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. file — a tool
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. squash — the sport
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. file — a document
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. file — a line of people
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. squash — to crush
  14. ground — the earth
  15. bat — the animal
  16. ground — a position
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. stem — to come from
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. ground — crushed
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. stem — of a plant

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