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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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 professorship
  3. capital — a city
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. degree — an amount
  11. bat — the animal
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. chair — a leader
  16. net — for catching
  17. capital — money
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. degree — from a university
  20. net — after costs
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. net — in sport
  23. degree — temperature
  24. hide — to keep secret

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