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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — the animal
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. sharp — clever
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. wake — a trail
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. kick — in football
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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