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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: wound · cold · mark · season · club · tear · straw · mouse

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mark — a grade
  6. club — a group
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. tear — to rip
  9. club — for dancing
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. tear — from crying
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. tear — from crying
  15. mouse — for a computer
  16. club — for golf
  17. wound — an injury
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wound — an injury
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. season — in sport
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. season — of the year

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