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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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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: straw · lie · spell · field · cold · craft · tear · bowl

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. craft — boats
  8. field — for sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — to rip
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. tear — from crying
  14. field — a subject
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. lie — to recline
  18. field — farmland
  19. craft — a skill
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. spell — magic
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — letters

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