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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. kid — child
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. kid — to tease
  7. file — a line of people
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. land — ground
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. rash — hasty
  14. tear — from crying
  15. file — a document
  16. fall — the season
  17. tear — to rip
  18. land — to come down
  19. fall — to drop
  20. rash — a series
  21. land — a country
  22. fall — to drop
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. file — a tool

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