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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 116 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: straw · cold · snap · lean · mate · spring · rest · nail

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. mate — to breed
  3. snap — to click
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. rest — what's left
  6. mate — a friend
  7. spring — a coil
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lean — to bend
  10. cold — not warm
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. cold — an illness
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. spring — the season
  19. mate — a partner
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. spring — of water
  23. rest — a break
  24. rest — what's left

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