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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: face · hand · scale · trunk · mine · bear · game · straw

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. game — a match
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. face — to confront
  5. scale — size or range
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. scale — in music
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. game — wild animals
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. face — to point toward
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. face — part of the head
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. mine — for digging
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. hand — in cards
  21. bear — the animal
  22. bear — the animal
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. trunk — of a tree

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