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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. kid — to tease
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. stem — to come from
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. hand — help
  13. wound — an injury
  14. last — finally
  15. kid — child
  16. wound — an injury
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. hand — in cards
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. last — to go on
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. snap — to click
  24. last — final

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