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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. march — music
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. rule — a law
  5. band — a ring
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. file — a line of people
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. drill — a practice
  10. band — a music group
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. march — the month
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. rule — government
  15. file — a tool
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. drill — the tool
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. chest — of your body
  20. march — the month
  21. chest — a box
  22. file — a document
  23. drill — army training
  24. chest — of your 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