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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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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: pop · cold · last · trunk · lie · face · straw · rest

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. face — to point toward
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. cold — an illness
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. last — finally
  7. rest — what's left
  8. pop — soda
  9. cold — not warm
  10. face — to confront
  11. pop — to visit
  12. rest — what's left
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. lie — to recline
  15. last — to go on
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. face — part of the head
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. pop — music
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. rest — a break
  24. straw — a straw man

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