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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. current — electric
  4. game — wild animals
  5. cold — not warm
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. current — of water
  8. present — the time now
  9. game — a match
  10. bass — low music
  11. chest — a box
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. present — there
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. cold — an illness
  18. chest — of your body
  19. current — happening now
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. present — a gift
  23. bass — the fish
  24. straw — dry grass

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