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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. prune — to trim
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. perch — the fish
  8. season — in sport
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. track — to keep track
  11. cold — not warm
  12. capital — money
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. prune — to trim
  18. track — a song
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. capital — a city
  21. track — a path
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. cold — an illness
  24. season — to add flavour

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