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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. capital — money
  4. capital — a city
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. can — a tin
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. can — to be able to
  12. bark — to shout
  13. tube — the underground
  14. can — a tin
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. tube — a container
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a music group
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. capital — a big letter

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