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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. wound — an injury
  3. swing — to play on
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. dip — to sink
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. bore — to drill
  12. band — a ring
  13. swing — music
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. wound — an injury
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. swing — in golf
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. last — to go on
  21. last — final
  22. last — finally
  23. band — a music group
  24. straw — dry grass

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