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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bear — the animal
  3. hand — help
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. hand — in cards
  7. spring — a coil
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. track — to keep track
  12. bear — the animal
  13. track — a song
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bat — the animal
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — of water
  18. track — a path

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