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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. cold — an illness
  3. row — a line
  4. hand — help
  5. key — the most important part
  6. kid — child
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. cold — not warm
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. branch — a division
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — to tease
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. key — for a lock
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. key — in music
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. row — to paddle
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. straw — dry grass

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