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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. fork — in a road
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. wound — an injury
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — for sport
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. mate — to breed
  14. spring — of water
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. field — farmland
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — a coil
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wound — an injury
  23. mate — a friend
  24. pound — a weight

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