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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. root — of a word
  3. bear — the animal
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. wind — moving air
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. scale — size or range
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. scale — in music
  14. root — the cause
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bear — the animal
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. root — of a plant
  24. wind — to turn a key

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