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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: stock · lean · pitcher · last · straw · bound · trunk · cold

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. stock — goods
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. last — to go on
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. last — final
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. bound — certain
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. stock — shares
  13. bound — obliged
  14. lean — thin
  15. bound — tied together
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. cold — an illness
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. lean — to bend
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. last — finally

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