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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pop — music
  9. last — to go on
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. bulb — for light
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. scale — in music
  15. scale — size or range
  16. pop — soda
  17. last — finally
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pop — to visit
  23. bulb — for light
  24. bulb — of a plant

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