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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. tear — from crying
  4. mine — for digging
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. root — the cause
  8. root — of a word
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. hand — in cards
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ground — crushed
  15. tear — from crying
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. root — of a plant
  19. hand — help
  20. wind — moving air
  21. tear — to rip
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. ground — a position
  24. ground — the earth

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