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

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. degree — an amount
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. degree — from a university
  6. last — finally
  7. degree — temperature
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. ball — a dance
  11. last — to go on
  12. ball — a great time
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. last — final

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