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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. chest — of your body
  3. hand — help
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. root — of a word
  7. root — of a plant
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. chest — a box
  13. root — the cause
  14. hand — in cards
  15. chest — of your body
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. mine — for digging
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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