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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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Word bank
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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: bound · straw · last · board · ground · cold

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. last — final
  3. bound — certain
  4. last — finally
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bound — tied together
  10. ground — the earth
  11. ground — a position
  12. last — to go on
  13. ground — crushed
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. board — a committee
  16. cold — an illness
  17. board — to get on
  18. straw — dry grass

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