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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. last — finally
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pop — soda
  6. last — to go on
  7. spring — a coil
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. rest — what's left
  11. pop — to visit
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. rest — what's left
  14. mug — to rob
  15. cold — not warm
  16. mug — a face
  17. mug — a cup
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. date — the fruit
  22. rest — a break
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. last — final

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