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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: straw · fall · ruler · wound · rule · bear · pitch · row

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. pitch — completely
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. bear — the animal
  6. bear — the animal
  7. row — a line
  8. wound — an injury
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. row — to paddle
  14. rule — government
  15. fall — to drop
  16. wound — an injury
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. fall — the season
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. fall — to drop
  24. rule — a law

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