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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. mate — a partner
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chip — to eat
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. rash — a series
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. cold — not warm
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. perch — the fish
  16. chip — for betting
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. mate — a friend
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. mate — to breed
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. rash — hasty

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