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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: bat · straw · kick · degree · sharp · cold · date · stick

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. date — the fruit
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. sharp — clever
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. degree — from a university
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. kick — in football
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. degree — an amount
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — the animal
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. degree — temperature

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