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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 116 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.

Make a worksheet

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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  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. mug — a face
  2. mug — to rob
  3. dip — to sink
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. scale — size or range
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bark — to shout
  8. court — for sport
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. saw — the tool
  11. saw — the tool
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. mug — a cup
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. court — of law
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. scale — in music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. court — of a king
  24. straw — dry grass

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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