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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: bat · bark · net · race · straw · wake · scale · mouse

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. race — humankind
  3. net — for catching
  4. net — after costs
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. wake — a trail
  7. scale — in music
  8. bark — to shout
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. race — the arms race
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. bat — the animal
  21. race — a contest
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. scale — size or range

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