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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. sharp — clever
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. chest — of your body
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. chest — of your body
  19. stem — to come from
  20. chest — a box
  21. march — the month
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. fan — a supporter

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