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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. swing — music
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. court — for sport
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. present — there
  8. present — the time now
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. swing — to play on
  11. spring — the season
  12. present — a gift
  13. mine — for digging
  14. court — of law
  15. court — of a king
  16. spring — of water
  17. swing — in golf
  18. hand — help
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. spring — a coil
  24. hand — in cards

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