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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. wind — moving air
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. mark — a trace
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. drill — army training
  8. capital — money
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. swing — music
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. swing — in golf
  15. drill — a practice
  16. drill — the tool
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. cold — an illness
  19. swing — to play on
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. mark — a grade
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. capital — a city

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