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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. ball — a great time
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. cold — not warm
  6. shower — to wash
  7. present — there
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. spring — the season
  10. shower — rain
  11. present — the time now
  12. present — a gift
  13. dip — to sink
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. root — of a word
  17. cold — an illness
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. root — the cause
  20. ball — a dance
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. root — of a plant
  24. spring — of water

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