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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · game · hand · band · staff · wound · fall · bear

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. game — wild animals
  3. hand — in cards
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — a match
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. band — a music group
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. fall — to drop
  14. fall — to drop
  15. wound — an injury
  16. bear — the animal
  17. staff — a stick
  18. band — a ring
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. fall — the season
  22. staff — employees
  23. wound — an injury
  24. hand — help

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