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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. scale — in music
  5. net — for catching
  6. race — a contest
  7. scale — size or range
  8. tear — from crying
  9. net — after costs
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. race — the arms race
  17. net — in sport
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. race — humankind

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