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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. sharp — clever
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. scale — size or range
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. scale — in music
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. band — a ring
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. season — in sport
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. season — of the year
  21. band — a music group
  22. chest — a box
  23. chest — of your body
  24. straw — dry grass

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