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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 120 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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. bat — the animal
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. pitch — completely
  9. row — a line
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. sharp — clever
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. cap — of ice
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. row — to paddle
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cap — a lid

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