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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 120 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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. shower — rain
  7. mine — for digging
  8. face — to confront
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. pit — a hole
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. face — to point toward
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cell — a phone
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. pit — in a race
  21. sharp — clever
  22. cell — in biology
  23. shower — to wash
  24. face — part of the head

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