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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. bore — to drill
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cold — an illness
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. foot — the bottom
  11. land — to come down
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. rest — what's left
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bore — to tire
  17. tube — the underground
  18. rest — a break
  19. foot — a measure
  20. bat — the animal
  21. tube — a container
  22. land — a country
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. tube — in a tire

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