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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. prune — to trim
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pound — a weight
  11. prune — to trim
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cell — in biology
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. hand — in cards
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. stem — to come from
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. cell — a phone
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. straw — a straw man

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