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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. march — the month
  3. march — the month
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. chest — a box
  6. cap — a lid
  7. march — music
  8. cold — an illness
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. stem — to come from
  12. cap — of ice
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cap — a hat
  15. lean — thin
  16. chest — of your body
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. chip — to eat
  21. lean — to bend
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chip — for betting
  24. stem — a stem cell

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