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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. mate — a partner
  3. spell — magic
  4. mate — a friend
  5. spell — a short time
  6. mine — for digging
  7. file — a document
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. pop — to visit
  11. row — to paddle
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. file — a tool
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. bass — the fish
  16. spell — letters
  17. bass — low music
  18. file — a line of people
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. row — a line
  21. pop — music
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. mate — to breed
  24. pop — soda

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