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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: tear · cold · pound · last · charge · row · straw · file

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. charge — a price
  3. charge — electricity
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. cold — an illness
  7. row — a line
  8. last — finally
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. file — a tool
  11. last — final
  12. tear — from crying
  13. file — a line of people
  14. pound — a weight
  15. file — a document
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tear — to rip
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. row — to paddle
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. charge — in control
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tear — from crying

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