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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. charge — a price
  5. cold — an illness
  6. charge — electricity
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. cold — not warm
  9. wind — moving air
  10. charge — in control
  11. wind — moving air
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. kick — in football
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. trunk — of an elephant

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