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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 · hand · face · content · bat · firm · last · stock

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. firm — steady
  3. hand — help
  4. face — part of the head
  5. face — to confront
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. content — happy
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. face — to point toward
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. content — the amount
  13. stock — shares
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. last — final
  16. hand — in cards
  17. stock — goods
  18. last — to go on
  19. last — finally
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. firm — decided
  24. firm — a company

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