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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rock — a stone
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chest — a box
  8. rock — music
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. rest — what's left
  12. rest — what's left
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. chest — of your body
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. date — the fruit
  20. rest — a break
  21. chest — of your body
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — the season

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