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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: net · straw · race · swing · staff · rock · bat · tear

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. swing — to play on
  4. staff — employees
  5. net — after costs
  6. staff — employees
  7. tear — from crying
  8. swing — in golf
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. tear — to rip
  11. net — in sport
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. swing — music
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — the arms race
  17. bat — the animal
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. tear — from crying
  21. rock — music
  22. race — humankind
  23. net — for catching
  24. rock — a stone

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