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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. spring — a coil
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — a line
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. row — to paddle
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. cold — an illness
  11. track — to keep track
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. track — a song
  15. cold — not warm
  16. spring — the season
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. spring — of water
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. rush — hurry
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. track — a path

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