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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. When will it ________________ you to start?
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. suit — in cards
  5. snap — to click
  6. suit — clothes
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — rain
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. suit — to fit
  13. scale — size or range
  14. cold — an illness
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. kid — to tease
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. cold — not warm
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. scale — in music
  22. kid — child
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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