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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. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — a trail
  2. board — to get on
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. cell — a phone
  6. spring — of water
  7. spring — the season
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. march — music
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. bat — the animal
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. march — the month
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. board — a committee
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. spring — a coil
  20. march — the month
  21. cell — in biology
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. hide — to keep secret

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