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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: hand · club · pound · chest · straw · race · fall · tear

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. hand — in cards
  3. race — a contest
  4. tear — from crying
  5. race — humankind
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. chest — a box
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. tear — from crying
  10. race — the arms race
  11. chest — of your body
  12. fall — to drop
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. club — for dancing
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. pound — a weight
  18. hand — help
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. chest — of your body
  21. fall — the season
  22. club — a group
  23. fall — to drop
  24. tear — to rip

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