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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. root — of a plant
  7. bore — to drill
  8. date — the fruit
  9. land — to come down
  10. cold — an illness
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. cold — not warm
  13. tear — to rip
  14. tear — from crying
  15. land — a country
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. bore — to tire
  19. root — the cause
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. land — ground
  23. mine — for digging
  24. root — of a word

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