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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.

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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bound — tied together
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. cold — not warm
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a music group
  11. bound — certain
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. band — a ring
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. kick — in football
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cell — a phone
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. bat — the animal
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bound — obliged

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