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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: stock · straw · tear · drill · date · fall · stick · cold

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. tear — from crying
  4. stock — goods
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cold — not warm
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. date — the fruit
  9. fall — to drop
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. drill — the tool
  12. cold — an illness
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. fall — the season
  16. tear — to rip
  17. drill — a practice
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. tear — from crying
  20. stock — shares
  21. drill — army training
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. fall — to drop

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