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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: row · rock · land · tear · bat · straw · stick · lie

  1. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. rock — music
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — the animal
  5. lie — to recline
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. tear — from crying
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. rock — a stone
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. tear — from crying
  17. land — a country
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. row — a line
  20. land — ground
  21. land — to come down
  22. row — to paddle
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. tear — to rip

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