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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stem — to come from
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. cold — not warm

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