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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. hand — in cards
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. season — in sport
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. deal — to handle
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wind — moving air
  17. cold — an illness
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. hand — help
  20. season — of the year
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. bat — the animal

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