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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. cold — not warm
  4. fall — to drop
  5. land — to come down
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. fall — to drop
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — clever
  10. net — in sport
  11. cold — an illness
  12. land — ground
  13. season — in sport
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. land — a country
  17. tear — from crying
  18. fall — the season
  19. tear — to rip
  20. net — after costs
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. tear — from crying
  23. season — of the year
  24. season — to add flavour

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