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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. spell — letters
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. rest — what's left
  8. land — to come down
  9. plane — a tool
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — in biology
  15. cap — a hat
  16. land — a country
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. land — ground
  20. cap — of ice
  21. rest — a break
  22. spell — magic
  23. spell — a short time
  24. rest — what's left

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