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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. spell — magic
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. spring — the season
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. spell — letters
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. net — for catching
  9. shower — rain
  10. net — in sport
  11. spring — of water
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. net — after costs
  14. spring — a coil
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. spell — a short time
  17. shower — to wash
  18. nail — for a hammer

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