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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. fall — to drop
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. band — a ring
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. tear — to rip
  12. hand — in cards
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. cold — an illness
  15. hand — help
  16. band — a music group
  17. wind — moving air
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. cold — not warm
  20. tear — from crying
  21. wind — moving air
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. fall — the season

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