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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The tickets are free of ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. cold — not warm
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. tear — from crying
  5. field — a subject
  6. charge — in control
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. tear — to rip
  9. spring — of water
  10. charge — a price
  11. spring — a coil
  12. spring — the season
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tear — from crying
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. field — farmland
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — an illness
  22. field — for sport
  23. charge — electricity
  24. wound — an injury

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