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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. game — wild animals
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. game — a match
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. hand — help
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. cell — in biology
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. cell — a phone
  19. mine — for digging
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bat — the animal
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. hand — in cards
  24. wake — a trail

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