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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. stem — to come from
  3. pass — a permit
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. drill — army training
  6. prune — to trim
  7. pound — a weight
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. hand — help
  11. band — a ring
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. prune — to trim
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. drill — a practice
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. hand — in cards
  21. band — a music group
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. drill — the tool

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