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

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. face — to confront
  5. rest — what's left
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. wound — an injury
  8. rest — a break
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. face — part of the head
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. bat — the animal
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. rest — what's left
  16. wound — an injury
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. capital — money
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. face — to point toward
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. branch — a division
  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