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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. ground — a position
  3. tube — the underground
  4. bat — the animal
  5. tube — a container
  6. mark — a trace
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. mark — a grade
  11. sharp — clever
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. season — in sport
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. season — of the year
  18. chest — of your body
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. ground — the earth
  24. ground — crushed

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