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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. branch — a division
  3. mine — for digging
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. drill — army training
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. cold — not warm
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. fall — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. drill — the tool
  17. fall — to drop
  18. drill — a practice

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