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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mug — a cup
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. spell — magic
  5. face — to confront
  6. spell — letters
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. spell — a short time
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. mug — to rob
  11. mug — a face
  12. face — part of the head
  13. content — the amount
  14. cold — an illness
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. face — to point toward
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. content — happy
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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