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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. hand — in cards
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. spring — a coil
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. spring — of water
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. pitch — completely
  17. hand — help
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. spring — the season
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. bat — the animal
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. bat — in an idiom

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