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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. band — a music group
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. kid — to tease
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. tear — from crying
  8. kid — child
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. tear — from crying
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. band — a ring
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. tear — to rip
  23. plane — a tool
  24. content — videos and posts

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