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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  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. straw — dry grass
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. cell — a phone
  5. field — farmland
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. prune — to trim
  11. dip — to sink
  12. lie — to recline
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. field — a subject
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cold — not warm
  22. field — for sport
  23. prune — to trim
  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