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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: cold · tear · net · lean · march · chest · mine · straw

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. chest — a box
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. chest — of your body
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lean — to bend
  10. net — in sport
  11. cold — not warm
  12. lean — thin
  13. march — the month
  14. tear — from crying
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. chest — of your body
  17. tear — from crying
  18. net — for catching
  19. march — the month
  20. cold — an illness
  21. net — after costs
  22. tear — to rip
  23. march — music
  24. mine — an explosive

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