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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. wind — moving air
  5. last — to go on
  6. scale — in music
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. rest — a break
  9. last — finally
  10. spring — the season
  11. club — for dancing
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. club — a group
  16. club — for golf
  17. rest — what's left
  18. spring — of water
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. scale — size or range
  21. spring — a coil
  22. perch — the fish
  23. rest — what's left
  24. wind — moving air

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