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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. cold — an illness
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. cap — of ice
  6. branch — a division
  7. cap — a lid
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. rush — hurry
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. land — a country
  13. game — a match
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. land — ground
  17. hand — help
  18. land — to come down
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cap — a hat
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. game — wild animals
  23. cold — not warm
  24. branch — of a bank

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