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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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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: court · straw · file · toast · tear · object · mark · snap

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. object — to protest
  5. tear — from crying
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. court — of law
  8. mark — a trace
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. object — a thing
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. court — of a king
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. file — a document
  15. object — an aim
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. tear — to rip
  18. mark — a grade
  19. file — a tool
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. court — for sport
  22. file — a line of people
  23. tear — from crying
  24. toast — bread

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