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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 120 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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. ball — a great time
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cap — of ice
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. ball — a dance
  8. cap — a hat
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. bound — obliged
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. capital — money
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. squash — the sport
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. squash — to crush
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. capital — a city
  22. cap — a lid
  23. bound — tied together
  24. capital — a big letter

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