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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. chest — of your body
  4. row — a line
  5. row — to paddle
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bore — to drill
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. fork — in a road
  14. chest — of your body
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. bore — to tire
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. chest — a box
  22. scale — size or range
  23. cold — not warm
  24. scale — in music

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