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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. net — in sport
  3. net — for catching
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. land — ground
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cap — a lid
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. cap — of ice
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. cap — a hat
  18. land — to come down
  19. net — after costs
  20. shower — to wash
  21. land — a country
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. snap — to click
  24. shower — rain

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