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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 120 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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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: club · tear · straw · cabinet · pitcher · court · wound · ground

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wound — an injury
  3. tear — from crying
  4. ground — a position
  5. tear — to rip
  6. ground — crushed
  7. club — a group
  8. club — for dancing
  9. court — of a king
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. club — for golf
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. tear — from crying
  16. court — of law
  17. court — for sport
  18. ground — the earth
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wound — an injury
  24. pitcher — a jug

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