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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. rock — music
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. snap — to click
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. key — the most important part
  11. key — for a lock
  12. track — to keep track
  13. rock — a stone
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cold — an illness
  16. chest — a box
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. track — a path
  23. track — a song
  24. key — 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