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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 116 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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. wind — moving air
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wind — moving air
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. stock — goods
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — child
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. press — to push
  16. press — newspapers
  17. press — a publisher
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. stock — shares
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. game — wild animals
  23. game — a match
  24. bat — the animal

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