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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bat — the animal
  6. content — happy
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. lean — thin
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. lean — to bend
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. cap — of ice
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. hand — help
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — a hat
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — to wash
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. content — the amount

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