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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. fall — to drop
  4. drill — the tool
  5. rash — hasty
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. drill — a practice
  9. drill — army training
  10. lean — to bend
  11. lean — thin
  12. fall — the season
  13. wound — an injury
  14. fall — to drop
  15. wound — an injury
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. bark — to shout
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. rash — a series
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bark — of a tree

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