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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  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. charge — electricity
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. charge — a price
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spring — a coil
  7. branch — a division
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. charge — in control
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. bore — to tire
  13. bore — to drill
  14. stand — to bear
  15. spring — of water
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. foot — a measure
  20. spring — the season
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. foot — the bottom
  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