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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. mark — a trace
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. roll — a list
  5. court — for sport
  6. hand — in cards
  7. roll — a cake
  8. mark — a grade
  9. chest — of your body
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. spring — the season
  14. chest — of your body
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — child
  17. hand — help
  18. spring — a coil
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. court — of a king
  21. kid — to tease
  22. chest — a box
  23. court — of law
  24. mark — to pay attention

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