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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · bat · safe · track · roll · bowl · straw · last

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  7. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. bat — the animal
  4. last — final
  5. roll — a cake
  6. safe — a strongbox
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. track — a path
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. last — finally
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. track — to keep track
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. roll — a list
  19. last — to go on
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. track — a song
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. bat — for baseball

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