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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 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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. band — a ring
  6. saw — the tool
  7. court — for sport
  8. shower — rain
  9. court — of a king
  10. perch — the fish
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. court — of law
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. saw — the tool
  20. date — the fruit
  21. shower — to wash
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. band — a music group
  24. trunk — of a tree

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