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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: straw · wind · wake · file · tear · swing · pitcher · march

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. swing — music
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. swing — in golf
  5. file — a tool
  6. wind — moving air
  7. march — the month
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — from crying
  10. march — the month
  11. file — a line of people
  12. march — music
  13. tear — to rip
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. swing — to play on
  19. wake — a trail
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. file — a document
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. pitcher — a jug

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