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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 116 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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. tear — from crying
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. tear — to rip
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. tear — from crying
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. ball — a dance
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. wound — an injury
  17. track — a path
  18. track — to keep track
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. track — a song
  23. ball — a great time
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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