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

Word bank: wave · bat · trunk · season · last · perch · straw · wind

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. season — of the year
  3. wind — moving air
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. season — in sport
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. last — final
  10. last — finally
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. bat — the animal
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. wind — moving air
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. perch — the fish
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. last — to go on
  24. wave — of the sea

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