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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. face — part of the head
  3. face — to confront
  4. game — wild animals
  5. spell — letters
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. face — to point toward
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. shower — to wash
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. game — a match
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. spell — a short time
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. spell — magic
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. cold — not warm
  22. shower — rain
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. racket — for tennis

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