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

Word bank: swing · bat · straw · kick · cold · jam · season · cell

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cell — a phone
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. kick — in football
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. bat — the animal
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. cell — in biology
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. swing — music
  20. swing — to play on
  21. cold — an illness
  22. swing — in golf
  23. season — in sport
  24. season — of the year

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