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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 116 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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. fall — the season
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chip — to eat
  7. pop — music
  8. fall — to drop
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. land — a country
  11. land — to come down
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. pop — to visit
  15. pop — soda
  16. land — ground
  17. chip — for betting
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. fall — to drop
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — moving air

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