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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. swing — to play on
  5. rash — hasty
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. mark — a grade
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. rash — a series
  11. pit — a hole
  12. cold — not warm
  13. swing — music
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — of water
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. swing — in golf
  22. pit — in a race
  23. mark — a trace
  24. spring — the season

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