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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 water is too ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — ground
  5. land — a country
  6. face — to confront
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. stock — shares
  9. cold — an illness
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. ball — a great time
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. ball — a dance
  15. face — part of the head
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. stock — goods
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. face — to point toward

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