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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. court — of law
  3. court — for sport
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. fall — to drop
  6. row — to paddle
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. hand — in cards
  9. court — of a king
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — the season
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. fall — to drop
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. row — a line
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. hand — help
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. cell — a phone

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