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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chest — of your body
  3. lean — to bend
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cap — a hat
  7. wake — a trail
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. bear — the animal
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. cap — of ice
  12. bear — the animal
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. drill — army training
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. drill — the tool
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. drill — a practice
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. lean — thin
  23. chest — a box
  24. cap — a lid

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