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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 124 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. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. rush — hurry
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cold — an illness
  11. scale — in music
  12. bat — the animal
  13. cold — not warm
  14. lie — to recline
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. wind — moving air
  17. scale — size or range
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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