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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. ground — a position
  4. board — a committee
  5. root — the cause
  6. ground — crushed
  7. board — to get on
  8. capital — money
  9. root — of a word
  10. file — a document
  11. ground — the earth
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. capital — a city
  14. file — a tool
  15. object — an aim
  16. root — of a plant
  17. object — to protest
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. file — a line of people
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. object — a thing
  24. cold — the Cold War

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