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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. bat — the animal
  3. present — there
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. shower — to wash
  10. wake — a trail
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. present — a gift
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. scale — size or range
  15. shower — rain
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. ball — a great time
  18. scale — in music
  19. pound — a weight
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. ball — a dance
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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