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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — shares
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. wake — a trail
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. present — a gift
  13. present — there
  14. swing — in golf
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. march — the month
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. scale — size or range
  20. swing — to play on
  21. swing — music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. scale — in music
  24. straw — a straw man

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