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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · craft · mouse · saw · bat · straw · spring · ground

  1. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. ground — a position
  3. craft — a skill
  4. craft — boats
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. ground — the earth
  7. spring — of water
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. spring — the season
  10. spring — a coil
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. saw — the tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. saw — the tool
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. cold — an illness
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. ground — crushed
  23. bat — the animal
  24. straw — a straw man

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