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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 120 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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. bound — certain
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. court — for sport
  5. cold — an illness
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. kid — child
  9. rock — music
  10. bound — obliged
  11. deal — to handle
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. court — of a king
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bound — tied together
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. court — of law
  22. kid — to tease
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. rock — a stone

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