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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: pound · wound · staff · straw · kid · foot · tear · rash

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. kid — to tease
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. wound — an injury
  6. kid — child
  7. staff — a stick
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. rash — a series
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. staff — employees
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. pound — a weight
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. wound — an injury
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. staff — employees
  19. tear — to rip
  20. foot — a measure
  21. rash — hasty
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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