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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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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: spring · kid · trunk · sharp · straw · temple · hide · swing

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. sharp — clever
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. spring — the season
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. swing — in golf
  16. kid — to tease
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. spring — a coil
  22. kid — child
  23. spring — of water
  24. swing — music

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