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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 would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  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. rest — a break
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. land — ground
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. sharp — clever
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. field — farmland
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. land — to come down
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. foot — a measure
  16. rest — what's left
  17. field — for sport
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. field — a subject
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. rest — what's left
  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