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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. rush — hurry
  4. net — for catching
  5. present — there
  6. cold — not warm
  7. squash — to crush
  8. chest — a box
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. net — after costs
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. cold — an illness
  15. net — in sport
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. chest — of your body
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. present — a gift
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. present — the time now
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — the Cold War

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