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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. field — farmland
  3. wind — moving air
  4. field — a subject
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. field — for sport
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. spell — letters
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. rock — a stone
  16. wind — moving air
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. rock — music
  19. spell — a short time
  20. bat — the animal
  21. spell — magic
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. bat — for baseball

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