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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 · lash · race · swing · stock · tear · date · band

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. band — a ring
  5. stock — goods
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. tear — to rip
  8. date — the fruit
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. swing — to play on
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. stock — shares
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. swing — music
  17. race — humankind
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. band — a music group
  22. swing — in golf
  23. race — a contest
  24. race — the arms race

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