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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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. hand — in cards
  6. rock — music
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. rock — a stone
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. band — a ring
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. capital — a city
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. capital — money
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. kid — child
  23. band — a music group
  24. hand — help

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