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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. cold — not warm
  3. tear — from crying
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. cold — an illness
  7. swing — in golf
  8. last — finally
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. last — to go on
  11. rule — government
  12. tear — from crying
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. swing — to play on
  15. march — the month
  16. tear — to rip
  17. rush — hurry
  18. rule — a law
  19. march — the month
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. last — final
  22. march — music
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. swing — music

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