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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: wound · season · chest · root · straw · wake · hand · file

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. root — of a word
  3. wound — an injury
  4. root — of a plant
  5. root — the cause
  6. chest — of your body
  7. file — a line of people
  8. chest — of your body
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. file — a document
  12. season — in sport
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. hand — in cards
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — help
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. chest — a box
  21. wound — an injury
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. wake — a trail
  24. file — a tool

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