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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. kid — to tease
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. row — a line
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. row — to paddle
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. sharp — clever
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. kick — in football
  24. kid — child

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