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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 116 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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. row — to paddle
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. cold — an illness
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. fork — in a road
  9. spring — of water
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. kick — in football
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. spring — the season
  14. cold — not warm
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. content — happy
  17. snap — to click
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. spring — a coil
  22. row — a line
  23. content — the amount
  24. cold — the Cold War

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