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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. bat — the animal
  3. club — a group
  4. hand — help
  5. cold — an illness
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. season — of the year
  10. cold — not warm
  11. season — in sport
  12. squash — to crush
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. bound — certain
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. club — for golf
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bound — obliged
  21. hand — in cards
  22. bound — tied together
  23. club — for dancing
  24. cold — the Cold War

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