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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. season — in sport
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. fine — high quality
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. season — of the year
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. file — a document
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. file — a line of people
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. cold — not warm
  23. fine — all right
  24. fan — a supporter

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