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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. net — for catching
  4. wind — moving air
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cold — not warm
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. club — a group
  10. lie — to recline
  11. net — in sport
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. face — to confront
  14. club — for dancing
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. club — for golf
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. cold — an illness
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. net — after costs
  23. face — to point toward
  24. face — part of the head

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