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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. last — to go on
  4. last — final
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bass — low music
  8. last — finally
  9. wound — an injury
  10. stock — goods
  11. present — the time now
  12. tear — from crying
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bass — the fish
  16. cold — an illness
  17. present — there
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. stock — shares
  20. present — a gift
  21. tear — from crying
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. tear — to rip

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