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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 120 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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — of water
  5. present — the time now
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. file — a document
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cold — an illness
  11. file — a line of people
  12. present — there
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. foot — a measure
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. file — a tool
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. present — a gift
  24. spring — the season

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