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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Is it ________________ for us to be here?

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. tear — from crying
  4. swing — music
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. capital — a city
  7. land — ground
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. cold — an illness
  11. capital — money
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. swing — in golf
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. land — to come down
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — to shout
  19. tear — from crying
  20. safe — a strongbox
  21. land — a country
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. tear — to rip
  24. safe — out of danger

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