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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. rock — a stone
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. cold — not warm
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. mark — a grade
  7. spell — letters
  8. mark — a trace
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a match
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. mug — to rob
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. rock — music
  15. fall — the season
  16. spell — magic
  17. fall — to drop
  18. spell — a short time
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. fall — to drop
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. mug — a cup
  24. cold — an illness

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