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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bat — the animal
  4. perch — the fish
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. tube — a container
  12. tube — the underground
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. pound — a weight
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. nail — on a finger

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