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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. rest — a break
  3. net — for catching
  4. net — after costs
  5. net — in sport
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. hand — in cards
  10. march — the month
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. tube — a container
  13. rest — what's left
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. mine — for digging
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. march — the month
  19. tube — the underground
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. march — music
  22. rest — what's left
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. straw — a straw man

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