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

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. fork — in a road
  4. cold — not warm
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. shower — rain
  10. cold — an illness
  11. shower — to wash
  12. root — of a plant
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. root — the cause
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. wax — to grow
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. root — of a word

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