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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · tear · trunk · ground · sharp · straw · present · cold

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. 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. game — a match
  2. tear — from crying
  3. sharp — clever
  4. tear — to rip
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. ground — the earth
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. ground — a position
  11. ground — crushed
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. present — there
  14. present — the time now
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — an illness
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. present — a gift
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. cold — not warm
  24. 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