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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: board · kick · swing · cold · pound · shower · straw · last

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. swing — in golf
  3. board — a committee
  4. cold — not warm
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. shower — rain
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kick — in football
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. board — to get on
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. pound — a weight
  19. last — finally
  20. swing — music
  21. swing — to play on
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. last — final

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