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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. cold — an illness
  4. net — in sport
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. charge — a price
  13. band — a ring
  14. net — for catching
  15. net — after costs
  16. cold — not warm
  17. face — part of the head
  18. charge — electricity
  19. band — a music group
  20. charge — in control
  21. face — to confront
  22. stem — to come from
  23. face — to point toward
  24. kick — in football

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