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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. game — a match
  4. bound — tied together
  5. spell — letters
  6. track — to keep track
  7. spell — magic
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. spell — a short time
  10. bound — certain
  11. staff — a stick
  12. track — a song
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. staff — employees
  15. cold — not warm
  16. game — wild animals
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. staff — employees
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. last — to go on
  21. bound — obliged
  22. cold — an illness
  23. track — a path
  24. straw — dry grass

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