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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. lean — thin
  3. lean — to bend
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. chest — a box
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cap — a hat
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. ball — a great time
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. wind — moving air
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. cap — a lid
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. cap — of ice
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. ball — a dance
  20. wind — moving air
  21. chest — of your body
  22. net — in sport
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. pitcher — a jug

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