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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stem — to come from
  8. wind — moving air
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. wound — an injury
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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