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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 120 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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. rush — hurry
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. cold — not warm
  7. net — after costs
  8. game — a match
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. net — in sport
  12. drill — the tool
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. net — for catching
  15. drill — army training
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. cold — an illness
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. game — wild animals
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. drill — a practice
  24. mouse — the animal

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