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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. land — a country
  5. toast — bread
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. tear — from crying
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. wind — moving air
  13. squash — to crush
  14. wind — moving air
  15. land — ground
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. cold — an illness
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. land — to come down
  21. squash — the sport
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. cold — not warm
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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