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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. capital — a city
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. game — a match
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. rush — hurry
  13. wound — an injury
  14. capital — money
  15. game — wild animals
  16. mine — for digging
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wake — a trail
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wound — an injury
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. game — a kind of play

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