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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 116 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. row — a line
  3. prune — to trim
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. race — humankind
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. row — to paddle
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. mug — to rob
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. stand — to bear
  17. mug — a face
  18. mug — a cup
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. race — a contest
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. race — the arms race
  24. bat — the animal

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