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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. face — to point toward
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. hand — help
  5. chest — a box
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. pound — a weight
  9. face — part of the head
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. cold — not warm
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. cold — an illness
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. chest — of your body
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. chest — of your body
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. face — to confront
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — part of the 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