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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. rest — what's left
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. pop — to visit
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. bear — the animal
  9. rest — what's left
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bat — the animal
  13. cold — not warm
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. pop — music
  20. rest — a break
  21. pop — soda
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bear — the animal
  24. nail — for a hammer

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