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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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. ground — a position
  6. scale — size or range
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. roll — a cake
  11. cold — not warm
  12. scale — in music
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. shower — rain
  15. roll — a list
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. ground — crushed
  20. bear — the animal
  21. shower — to wash
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. ground — the earth
  24. roll — on a roll

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