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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. last — to go on
  3. shower — to wash
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. cue — a signal
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. capital — a city
  9. shower — rain
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. last — finally
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. last — final
  14. cue — a hint
  15. chest — a box
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cue — for pool
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — money
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. chest — of your body

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