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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. present — the time now
  3. spring — a coil
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. present — there
  6. file — a document
  7. staff — employees
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. staff — a stick
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. file — a line of people
  12. present — a gift
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. perch — the fish
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. staff — employees
  17. cold — an illness
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. spring — the season
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. file — a tool
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. spring — of water
  24. cold — not warm

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