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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. last — finally
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. file — a tool
  8. squash — the sport
  9. lean — to bend
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. spring — the season
  12. lean — thin
  13. wound — an injury
  14. last — final
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. file — a line of people
  17. squash — to crush
  18. file — a document
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. wound — an injury
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. spring — of water

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