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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. current — electric
  3. last — finally
  4. game — a match
  5. chest — a box
  6. tear — from crying
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — to tease
  11. current — happening now
  12. game — wild animals
  13. tear — from crying
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. kid — child
  16. last — final
  17. chest — of your body
  18. last — to go on
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cell — a phone
  22. current — of water
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. tear — to rip

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