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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. cue — for pool
  3. mine — for digging
  4. pit — in a race
  5. swing — in golf
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. chest — of your body
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. track — a song
  10. track — to keep track
  11. pit — a hole
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. cold — not warm
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cue — a hint
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. chest — a box
  22. swing — to play on
  23. swing — music
  24. cue — a signal

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