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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. lie — to recline
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. scale — size or range
  6. cold — an illness
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. saw — the tool
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. saw — the tool
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. prune — to trim
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. scale — in music
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. kick — in football
  22. prune — to trim
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. cold — the Cold War

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