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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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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: march · tear · saw · dip · face · cell · straw · bat

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. saw — the tool
  3. tear — from crying
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. saw — the tool
  6. face — to confront
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. cell — in biology
  9. march — the month
  10. face — to point toward
  11. tear — to rip
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. cell — a phone
  17. dip — to sink
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — the animal
  20. march — the month
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. face — part of the head
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. march — music

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