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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 · kick · bay · date · ground · straw · cold · vault

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. hand — help
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. ground — the earth
  5. ground — crushed
  6. hand — in cards
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. kick — in football
  10. date — the fruit
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. cold — an illness
  18. vault — a safe
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. ground — a position
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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