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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. tear — from crying
  5. plane — a tool
  6. row — a line
  7. last — final
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. tear — from crying
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. last — finally
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. perch — the fish
  15. kick — in football
  16. tear — to rip
  17. hand — help
  18. hand — in cards
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. row — to paddle
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. last — to go on

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