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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. pit — a hole
  4. spell — letters
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. spell — a short time
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. wake — a trail
  10. foot — a measure
  11. game — a match
  12. pit — in a race
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. spell — magic
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. cold — not warm
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. game — wild animals
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. cold — an illness

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