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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — the season
  5. mark — a trace
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. mark — a grade
  8. cold — not warm
  9. spell — a short time
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. spell — magic
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. spell — letters
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. snap — to click
  18. spring — of water

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