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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. saw — the tool
  5. snap — to click
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. bat — the animal
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. face — part of the head
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. hand — in cards
  16. dip — to sink
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. hand — help
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. face — to confront
  21. saw — the tool
  22. face — to point toward
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. bat — for baseball

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