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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 116 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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. hand — help
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. fall — the season
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. pop — music
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. pop — to visit
  14. club — for golf
  15. fall — to drop
  16. pop — soda
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. fall — to drop
  21. hand — in cards
  22. club — a group
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. cold — an illness

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