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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 124 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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. last — to go on
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. last — finally
  5. track — to keep track
  6. track — a song
  7. wind — moving air
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. last — final
  10. spell — letters
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. degree — an amount
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. wind — moving air
  17. degree — from a university
  18. deal — to handle
  19. spell — a short time
  20. degree — temperature
  21. row — a line
  22. spell — magic
  23. track — a path
  24. row — to paddle

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