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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. kid — to tease
  3. last — final
  4. last — to go on
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. pop — music
  7. shower — to wash
  8. pitch — completely
  9. last — finally
  10. pop — to visit
  11. kid — child
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. shower — rain
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — help
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. pop — soda
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. pitch — a sports field

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