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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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Word bank
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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: foot · ground · bear · cold · board · straw · chip · nail

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. board — to get on
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. foot — a measure
  6. ground — a position
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. chip — to eat
  10. cold — an illness
  11. ground — the earth
  12. bear — the animal
  13. board — a committee
  14. bear — the animal
  15. chip — for betting
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. cold — not warm
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. foot — the bottom

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