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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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. bore — to tire
  4. bore — to drill
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. race — a contest
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. wind — moving air
  11. chest — a box
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — humankind
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pound — a weight
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bark — to shout
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. cold — an illness
  24. chest — of your body

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