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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. track — a path
  4. prune — to trim
  5. track — a song
  6. land — a country
  7. face — to confront
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. land — to come down
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. track — to keep track
  13. prune — to trim
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. band — a music group
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. band — a ring
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. face — part of the head
  21. face — to point toward
  22. land — ground
  23. hand — help
  24. hand — in cards

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