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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — in cards
  4. scale — in music
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. last — finally
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. mine — for digging
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. sharp — clever
  16. pit — in a race
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. last — final
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. scale — size or range
  23. last — to go on
  24. hand — part of the body

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