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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. track — a path
  9. last — final
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. last — to go on
  14. mine — for digging
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. last — finally
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. capital — money
  20. bat — the animal
  21. track — to keep track
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. track — a song
  24. capital — a city

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