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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. mug — a cup
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. spell — letters
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. degree — an amount
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. degree — from a university
  9. capital — money
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. mug — to rob
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. mug — a face
  14. rash — hasty
  15. cell — a phone
  16. degree — temperature
  17. spell — magic
  18. cold — an illness
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. cold — not warm
  21. capital — a city
  22. rash — a series
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spell — a short time

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