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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 water is too ________________.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. chest — a box
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. fall — to drop
  6. plane — a tool
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. chest — of your body
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cold — an illness
  14. chest — of your body
  15. fall — to drop
  16. game — a match
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. fall — the season

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