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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. cold — an illness
  6. mine — for digging
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. band — a ring
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cold — not warm
  18. lean — to bend
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. lean — thin
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. band — a music group

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