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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wound — an injury
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. bound — certain
  6. bound — tied together
  7. spring — of water
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bound — obliged
  11. suit — in cards
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. wound — an injury
  14. suit — clothes
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. spring — the season
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. spring — a coil
  20. wind — moving air
  21. suit — to fit
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. bat — in an idiom

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