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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. roll — a cake
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. cold — not warm
  6. saw — the tool
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. race — the arms race
  13. saw — the tool
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. lie — to recline
  17. bat — the animal
  18. roll — a list
  19. race — humankind
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. race — a contest
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. cold — the Cold War

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