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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 ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. root — the cause
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. wind — moving air
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. squash — the sport
  9. plane — a tool
  10. squash — to crush
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. root — of a word
  13. pound — a weight
  14. shower — rain
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. shower — to wash
  17. kid — child
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. root — of a plant
  20. wind — moving air
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. straw — a straw man

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