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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.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. row — a line
  3. face — to confront
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. face — part of the head
  6. face — to point toward
  7. hand — in cards
  8. row — to paddle
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. ball — a great time
  12. ground — a position
  13. ground — the earth
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. ground — crushed
  16. ball — a dance
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. straw — a straw man

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