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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. chest — a box
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. wind — moving air
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. court — of law
  13. court — for sport
  14. chest — of your body
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. chest — of your body
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. wind — moving air
  19. court — of a king
  20. pound — a weight
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. cold — not warm

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