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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. ball — a great time
  3. stem — to come from
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. degree — from a university
  6. ball — a dance
  7. march — the month
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. net — in sport
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. march — the month
  14. net — after costs
  15. perch — the fish
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. degree — an amount
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. degree — temperature
  20. row — to paddle
  21. net — for catching
  22. row — a line
  23. march — music
  24. straw — dry grass

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