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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. club — a group
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. cold — an illness
  10. spring — of water
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. spring — a coil
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. squash — the sport
  16. club — for dancing
  17. sharp — clever
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. squash — to crush
  22. spring — the season
  23. club — for golf
  24. trunk — of a tree

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