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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. current — electric
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. cell — a phone
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bound — tied together
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. bound — obliged
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. row — a line
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. cold — not warm
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. bound — certain
  19. deal — to handle
  20. current — happening now
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. current — of water
  24. cell — in biology

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