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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. mine — for digging
  5. band — a music group
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. shower — to wash
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. last — to go on
  12. shower — rain
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. band — a ring
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. cabinet — ministers

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