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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. When will it ________________ you to start?
  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. season — to add flavour
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. suit — clothes
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. season — of the year
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cold — an illness
  8. current — of water
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. bat — the animal
  12. chest — of your body
  13. current — electric
  14. current — happening now
  15. season — in sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. chest — a box
  18. suit — in cards
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. rule — a law
  21. rule — government
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. suit — to fit
  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