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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 116 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 train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. swing — to play on
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. spell — letters
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stand — to bear
  9. spell — magic
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. snap — to click
  13. swing — music
  14. bear — the animal
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. cold — an illness
  18. swing — in golf
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. spell — a short time
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. bear — the animal
  24. straw — dry grass

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