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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: chest · ruler · clip · saw · straw · bat · dip · rock

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. dip — to sink
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. rock — a stone
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. clip — a video
  12. rock — music
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. clip — to cut
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. saw — the tool
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. bat — the animal
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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