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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. cold — an illness
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. content — happy
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. vault — a safe
  13. toast — bread
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. snap — to click
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. cold — not warm
  21. toast — a drink to someone
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. tear — from crying

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