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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 120 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. shower — to wash
  3. net — after costs
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. field — a subject
  6. shower — rain
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. sharp — clever
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. field — for sport
  11. net — in sport
  12. perch — the fish
  13. cold — not warm
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. net — for catching
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. cold — an illness
  18. club — for dancing
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. club — for golf
  21. club — a group
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. field — farmland
  24. straw — dry grass

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