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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. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. present — a gift
  3. spring — a coil
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. present — there
  6. vault — a safe
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. cell — a phone
  9. swing — music
  10. spring — of water
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cold — not warm
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. spring — the season
  16. cold — an illness
  17. present — the time now
  18. foot — a measure
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. swing — in golf
  23. swing — to play on
  24. cold — the Cold War

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