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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: straw · band · game · chip · march · tear · rash · bark

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. band — a ring
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. march — the month
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. chip — to eat
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bark — to shout
  10. march — the month
  11. game — a match
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. march — music
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. tear — from crying
  16. game — wild animals
  17. chip — for betting
  18. band — a music group
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. tear — from crying
  21. rash — hasty
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. tear — to rip
  24. rash — a series

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