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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. spell — magic
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. cell — a phone
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. last — final
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. mine — for digging
  12. last — to go on
  13. spell — a short time
  14. pit — in a race
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. swing — music
  18. last — finally
  19. swing — to play on
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. shower — rain
  22. cell — in biology
  23. pit — a hole
  24. swing — in golf

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