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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. game — a match
  4. pop — music
  5. row — to paddle
  6. row — a line
  7. degree — an amount
  8. scale — in music
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. tube — a container
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. tube — the underground
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. scale — size or range
  15. degree — temperature
  16. pop — soda
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wind — moving air
  19. game — wild animals
  20. degree — from a university
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. pop — to visit
  24. wind — moving air

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