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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.

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: hand · rock · mouse · straw · rash · cold · plane · degree

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cold — an illness
  3. plane — a tool
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. cold — not warm
  8. degree — temperature
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — help
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. rash — hasty
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. rock — a stone
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. degree — from a university
  22. rash — a series
  23. degree — an amount
  24. plane — in geometry

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