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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 124 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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: row · straw · wake · hide · race · trunk · sharp · bat

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. race — a contest
  6. row — a line
  7. race — the arms race
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. row — to paddle
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. race — humankind
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. bat — the animal
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. wake — a trail
  20. sharp — clever
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. bat — in an idiom

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