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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: hand · club · pound · chest · straw · race

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. hand — in cards
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. race — humankind
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. club — for golf
  12. hand — help
  13. club — a group
  14. pound — a weight
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. club — for dancing
  17. race — a contest
  18. race — the arms race

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