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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 124 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 ________________ with my boss today.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. band — a ring
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. bass — low music
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. bark — to shout
  11. row — to paddle
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cold — an illness
  14. row — a line
  15. rock — a stone
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. rock — music
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bass — the fish
  22. dip — to sink
  23. cold — not warm
  24. band — a music group

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