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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. spell — magic
  7. cap — of ice
  8. fall — to drop
  9. fall — the season
  10. cap — a lid
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. cold — an illness
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. fall — to drop
  15. mine — for digging
  16. cold — not warm
  17. branch — a division
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. spell — letters
  20. spell — a short time
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cap — a hat
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. mine — an explosive

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