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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. clip — for paper
  5. net — after costs
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cold — an illness
  8. perch — the fish
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. clip — a video
  11. board — to get on
  12. clip — to cut
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bound — certain
  16. net — in sport
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. net — for catching
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. bound — obliged
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bound — tied together
  24. board — a committee

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