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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 116 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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. capital — money
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — the season
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. spring — of water
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. snap — to click
  10. capital — a city
  11. craft — a skill
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. shower — to wash
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. shower — rain

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