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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. chair — a leader
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — in cards
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. race — the arms race
  9. land — to come down
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. race — humankind
  12. race — a contest
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. perch — the fish
  15. land — ground
  16. kid — to tease
  17. hand — help
  18. kid — child
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. land — a country
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. straw — dry grass

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