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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. face — to confront
  4. sharp — clever
  5. spring — a coil
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. spring — the season
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wake — a trail
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. face — part of the head
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. cold — an illness
  15. rock — a stone
  16. rock — music
  17. spring — of water
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. sharp — exactly

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