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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. cold — an illness
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. bass — low music
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bass — the fish
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. scale — in music
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. race — a contest
  17. race — the arms race
  18. branch — a division
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. race — humankind
  23. game — a match
  24. scale — size or range

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