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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. wound — an injury
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cold — an illness
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wound — an injury
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. mate — to breed
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. mate — a partner
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. cold — not warm
  20. game — a match
  21. mate — a friend
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. game — wild animals

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