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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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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: bound · patient · tear · straw · wound · cap · kid · row

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bound — tied together
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. bound — obliged
  5. kid — to tease
  6. row — a line
  7. cap — a hat
  8. bound — certain
  9. cap — of ice
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wound — an injury
  12. row — to paddle
  13. wound — an injury
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. kid — child
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. tear — to rip
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. cap — a lid
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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