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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. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. game — wild animals
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — the earth
  7. prune — to trim
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. game — a match
  11. fall — to drop
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a line
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. ground — a position
  18. fall — to drop
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. prune — to trim
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. fall — the season

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