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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. row — a line
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. capital — money
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. kick — in football
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. net — after costs
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. row — to paddle
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. net — in sport
  17. capital — a city
  18. net — for catching
  19. craft — boats
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. craft — a skill

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