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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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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: fall · kid · rest · straw · current · spring · land · swing

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. land — ground
  3. kid — to tease
  4. rest — what's left
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. fall — to drop
  7. current — of water
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. swing — music
  10. spring — a coil
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. current — electric
  13. kid — child
  14. fall — the season
  15. spring — of water
  16. swing — in golf
  17. rest — what's left
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. current — happening now
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. rest — a break
  23. spring — the season
  24. fall — to drop

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