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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: row · pit · straw · bark · key · mine · wave · cold

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. key — for a lock
  4. row — a line
  5. pit — a hole
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. key — in music
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. bark — to shout
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. pit — in a race
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. row — to paddle
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wave — of the sea

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