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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: mine · foot · straw · bat · wound · cold · swing · rule

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. swing — to play on
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bat — the animal
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. swing — in golf
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wound — an injury
  11. rule — a law
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. mine — for digging
  15. swing — music
  16. foot — a measure
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. rule — government
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. mine — an explosive

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