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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: deal · straw · hand · kick · file · land · wound · date

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. land — ground
  4. kick — in football
  5. file — a document
  6. land — to come down
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. wound — an injury
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. file — a tool
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. file — a line of people
  16. land — a country
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. hand — in cards
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. deal — to handle
  22. hand — help
  23. date — the fruit
  24. straw — dry grass

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