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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 116 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 · stock · club · scale · bat · lash · spell · file

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. spell — a short time
  3. scale — size or range
  4. spell — letters
  5. stock — goods
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — shares
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. bat — the animal
  10. club — for golf
  11. file — a line of people
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. club — for dancing
  18. spell — magic
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. scale — in music
  21. file — a tool
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. club — a group
  24. file — a document

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