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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: band · straw · last · swing · kid · face · tear · dip

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. last — final
  3. face — part of the head
  4. swing — in golf
  5. band — a ring
  6. tear — from crying
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. band — a music group
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. face — to confront
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. last — finally
  15. last — to go on
  16. kid — child
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. face — to point toward
  19. swing — music
  20. dip — to sink
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. swing — to play on

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