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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. mate — a friend
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. field — farmland
  6. cell — a phone
  7. mate — a partner
  8. cell — in biology
  9. fall — the season
  10. ground — a position
  11. fall — to drop
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ground — crushed
  14. mate — to breed
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. hand — in cards
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. sharp — clever
  20. fall — to drop
  21. hand — help
  22. field — for sport
  23. field — a subject
  24. cell — in a prison

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