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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: hide · deal · present · straw · cold · drill

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. 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. hide — to keep secret
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. deal — to handle
  4. drill — army training
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. present — the time now
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. present — there
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. drill — a practice
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. drill — the tool
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. present — a gift
  18. 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