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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. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  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. rock — a stone
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. land — to come down
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. rest — a break
  6. bass — low music
  7. land — ground
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. degree — temperature
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bass — the fish
  16. land — a country
  17. cold — an illness
  18. rest — what's left
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. rock — music
  21. degree — an amount
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. degree — from a university
  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