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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cap — of ice
  4. chest — of your body
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. cap — a lid
  10. prune — to trim
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. cap — a hat
  15. scale — size or range
  16. bat — the animal
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. chest — a box
  23. chest — of your body
  24. scale — in music

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