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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: trunk · arm · straw · face · bat · content · spring · perch

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. perch — the fish
  3. spring — the season
  4. content — the amount
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. face — to confront
  7. face — to point toward
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. content — happy
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bat — the animal
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. face — part of the head
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. arm — a part of something

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