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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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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: pitcher · wound · fine · cold · content · firm · straw · hand

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. content — happy
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. hand — help
  8. cold — an illness
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. firm — decided
  12. firm — a company
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. hand — in cards
  17. fine — high quality
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. content — the amount
  20. fine — all right
  21. firm — steady
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. wound — an injury
  24. straw — dry grass

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