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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 · file · current · bark · cold · sharp · bat · fine

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. current — electric
  6. fine — all right
  7. sharp — clever
  8. fine — high quality
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bat — the animal
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. file — a tool
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. file — a document
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. current — of water
  19. cold — an illness
  20. file — a line of people
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. cold — not warm
  23. current — happening now
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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