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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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. straw — a straw man
  2. swing — to play on
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. club — for dancing
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. swing — in golf
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. cell — a phone
  13. club — for golf
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. cell — in biology
  16. swing — music
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. club — a group
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. cold — an illness
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. cold — not warm
  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