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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.

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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wake — a trail
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. hand — in cards
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. mate — a partner
  9. hand — help
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. squash — to crush
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. mate — a friend
  14. shower — to wash
  15. mate — to breed
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wind — moving air
  20. squash — the sport
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. bat — the animal
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. shower — rain

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