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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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. track — to keep track
  3. key — the most important part
  4. ground — a position
  5. suit — to fit
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. suit — clothes
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. suit — in cards
  10. plane — a tool
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. key — in music
  15. ground — crushed
  16. wind — moving air
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. ground — the earth
  21. cold — not warm
  22. track — a song
  23. cold — an illness
  24. key — for a lock

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