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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. jam — to spread on bread
  9. wound — an injury
  10. branch — a division
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. pit — a hole
  14. shower — rain
  15. sharp — clever
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — the animal
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. pit — in a race

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