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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. shower — rain
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. shower — to wash
  11. content — the amount
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. cold — not warm
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. pound — a weight
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. wax — to grow
  24. cold — an illness

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