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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. last — finally
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. court — of law
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. last — final
  7. last — to go on
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. land — ground
  12. chest — a box
  13. court — of a king
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. court — for sport
  18. date — the fruit
  19. land — to come down
  20. chest — of your body
  21. season — in sport
  22. season — of the year
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. land — a country

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