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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. That was a fun ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. game — a match
  3. wound — an injury
  4. mug — to rob
  5. swing — music
  6. game — wild animals
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. swing — in golf
  9. kid — child
  10. swing — to play on
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. kid — to tease
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. mug — a cup
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. row — a line
  20. wound — an injury
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. row — to paddle
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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