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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. net — in sport
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. march — the month
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. land — ground
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. land — to come down
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. net — for catching
  17. fork — in a road
  18. land — a country
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. wound — an injury
  23. net — after costs
  24. wound — an injury

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