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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. swing — to play on
  4. roll — a cake
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. stem — to come from
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. spell — magic
  10. cold — an illness
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. chest — a box
  14. roll — a list
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. swing — music
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. spell — letters
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bark — to shout
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. swing — in golf
  24. cold — not warm

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