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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. saw — the tool
  6. chest — of your body
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. dip — to sink
  9. saw — the tool
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. bat — the animal
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. chest — a box
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. saw — past of 'see'

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