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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 120 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: plane · staff · bat · pit · tear · band · straw · squash

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. staff — employees
  3. band — a music group
  4. plane — a tool
  5. pit — in a race
  6. pit — a hole
  7. tear — from crying
  8. squash — to crush
  9. tear — from crying
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. tear — to rip
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. staff — a stick
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. staff — employees
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. band — a ring
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. bat — for baseball

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