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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: cold · kid · tear · bowl · straw · bass · dip · branch

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. kid — to tease
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. branch — a division
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. bass — the fish
  8. tear — from crying
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bass — low music
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. tear — to rip
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. tear — from crying
  21. kid — child
  22. dip — to sink
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. dip — to dunk

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