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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: game · bulb · dip · straw · band · content · land · file

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. bulb — for light
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. land — a country
  7. game — a match
  8. band — a music group
  9. content — happy
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. dip — to sink
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a document
  15. content — the amount
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. band — a ring
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. file — a line of people
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bulb — for light
  24. dip — to dunk

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