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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. cold — an illness
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. file — a tool
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. date — the fruit
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. file — a line of people
  14. saw — the tool
  15. file — a document
  16. capital — money
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. cold — not warm
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. saw — the tool
  23. capital — a city
  24. straw — dry grass

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