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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: kid · tear · chest · cold · mug · scale · straw · wake

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. tear — to rip
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. kid — to tease
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. tear — from crying
  8. mug — a face
  9. tear — from crying
  10. scale — size or range
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. kid — child
  15. mug — a cup
  16. scale — in music
  17. cold — an illness
  18. mug — to rob
  19. wake — a trail
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. chest — of your body
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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